Pakistani businessmen sign joint ventures with Turkish counterparts

ISLAMABAD: On the first day of a Turkish business delegation’s visit to the country, a number of memorandums of understanding (MoUs), agreements and joint ventures were signed between the businessmen of the two countries.

Witnessing the signing ceremony on Thursday, Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said that a few of these would be materialised in the near future.

The adviser, who witnessed business-to-business (B2B) meetings between various sectors of the two counties, said that Pakistani software development house Locopixel has successfully closed a deal to develop an agriculture technology solution for Turkish vegetable seed breeder Manier Seeds.

“Hititi Computer Service of Turkey, which provides aviation IT services to at least 30 international airlines and is the biggest partner of the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) for Passenger Services System (PSS) and catering, has finalised a contract with the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) to open an incubation centre in the first science and technology park to be developed in Pakistan,” the adviser said in a tweet.

According to officials, the Joint Working Group of Pakistan and Turkey on Trade and Investment was held between the delegations of the two sides. The delegation of both countries explored various opportunities for trade and investment between both countries. The joint working group also finalised two MoUs, including an agreement on trade facilitation and customs cooperation and cooperation for Halal accreditation and conformity assessment. These MoUs would be signed in the preliminary session.

“It was a pleasure meeting with the Turkish businessmen at the B2B session which was organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP). I am very happy to announce that a few of Joint Ventures will materialize in the near future,” Razak Dawood said in another tweet.

The B2B meeting was organized at a local hotel in Islamabad on the occasion of the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to officials of the Ministry of Commerce, the objective of this initiative was to bring businessmen from Pakistan and Turkey under one roof to explore ways to enhance trade and investment.

The Turkish business delegation comprised leading business representatives from sectors, including engineering, energy, tourism, construction, defence, automotive, chemicals and IT. More than 200 prominent businessmen from Pakistani counterpart sectors, leading trade bodies like FPCCI, SCCI, ICCI, PBC, etc. and government organisations, including PBIT, TDCP, PTDC from the Pakistan side and TUMSAID, DIEK, Pakistan-Turkey Friendship Association, etc. from Turkish side were present on the occasion.

The event was formally inaugurated by Secretary Commerce Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera followed by addresses from FPCCI president and Pakistan-Turkey Business Council chairman.

The advisor visited the networking event and emphasised the importance of cooperation in enhancing trade and investment. He also met with different Turkish delegates, chambers and associations and discussed the possible ways to increase bilateral trade and investment.

All the speakers expressed great enthusiasm regarding the enhancement of trade and economic relations between the two nations and the visit of the delegation was generally remarked upon as a milestone for the opening of best possible avenues of cooperation in trade and investment ties between Pakistan and Turkey.

During the B2B meeting, the delegations had discussed trade, investment, and cooperation on tourism, military procurement, cooperation in other areas of defence industry to energy, construct on, textile, food, livestock, import and export, airways, real estate, tourism, consultancy trade, shipping, agriculture, jewellery, automotive and vehicle equipment, construction and production, tractor and engine, casting, and production of paper industry.