It's time to boost Pakistan-Turkey trade volume: Khan

By Zuhal Demirci</p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – Starting the business of his two-day visit to Turkey, Pakistan’s premier said Thursday that it is time to boost the trade volume between Turkey and Pakistan.</p> <p>“I’ve brought my team with me because now’s the time to enhance the trade volume between Pakistan and Turkey,” Imran Khan told a working dinner co-organized by the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) and Pakistan’s Embassy in Ankara.</p> <p>Khan's first official visit to Turkey since taking office last August comes at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.</p> <p>The bilateral trade volume currently falls short for a number of reasons, including the distance between the countries, said Khan.</p> <p>“I think this issue will be solved in the coming years, because a huge development is taking place in Pakistan, namely the Chinese Belt Road [One Belt One Road] initiative,” he noted.</p> <p>He added that the project would allow Pakistan to forge connections with countries it has been unable to before.</p> <p>The $64 billion One Belt One Road project aims to connect northwest China to Pakistan's southwestern Gwadar port through a network of roads, railways and pipelines to transport cargo, oil, and gas.</p> <p>Noting Pakistan’s huge potential in many areas, he added the country boasts “huge mineral reserves” such as natural gas, copper, and cobalt but that these areas have been neglected.</p> <p>Touching on Pakistan’s strategic importance, he said: “We’re fixing our governance system. [The government is working to] make it easier for businesses to work, to ease doing business, and the cost of doing business.”</p> <p>Khan added that his government’s initiatives promise to make investments from Turkey “much easier” as well.</p> <p>“I want to assure you that this government’s aim is to make it easy for investors. Make a lot of people make money and make profits,” he added.</p> <p>He said his country has one of the youngest population in the world, with fully 120 million Pakistanis under age 35.</p> <p>Also mentioning a project for building 5 million houses in the next five years, Khan welcomed construction companies to invest in his country.</p> <p>“This is a huge initiative for Pakistan,” he added.</p> <p>Touching on the historical ties between Turkey and Pakistan, he said: “When Turkey was fighting for its independence, now in Pakistan, then it was India, people were collecting money to support the Turkish movement for independence.”</p> <p>Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Planning Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar are among the ministers accompanying Khan.