turkiye aims for $5 billion trade in the upcoming two years
Published on: October 18, 2023.
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Ambassador of Turkiye to Pakistan Anticipates Bilateral Trade to Reach $25 Billion
In a recent visit to the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), the Ambassador of Turkiye to Pakistan, Dr Mehmet Pacaci, expressed optimism about the potential of bilateral trade between the two countries. He stated that Pakistan and Turkiye have the capacity to increase their trade volume to $5 billion in the next one to two years, and in the long term, this figure could potentially reach $20-25 billion.
Dr Pacaci emphasized the importance of utilizing existing multilateral platforms, such as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), to strengthen economic ties. He also highlighted the need for additional visa categories, including tourist visas and business tourism visas, to facilitate people-to-people linkages and promote trade.
The FPCCI President, Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, stressed the significance of Pakistan’s inclusion in the Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) convention and the Trade in Goods Agreement (TGA) signed between Pakistan and Turkiye. These agreements open up new opportunities for land-based cargo transportation and trade between the two countries.
Industrialists and IT experts believe that IT services hold great potential for bridging the trade deficit with Turkiye, which currently stands at over $5 million. They suggest that Pakistan should focus on exporting IT services, including programming, designing, software development, and robotic machine learning. The IT industry has the advantage of generating immediate business in Turkiye compared to other industries that may take longer to penetrate the market.
Presently, Pakistan exports a variety of products, including textiles, leather goods, sports goods, surgical instruments, agricultural products, and rice. On the other hand, Pakistan imports processed food, engineering goods, home appliances, confectionery, beverages, toys, defence products, and more.
Muhammad Suleman Chawla, the Senior Vice President of FPCCI, emphasized the need to explore new avenues for exports, as the current bilateral trade volume of $1.3 billion falls far below the true potential. Chawla also stressed the importance of industrial collaborations and technology transfer to strengthen economic relations between the two countries.
The Chairman of FPCCI’s Pakistan-Turkiye Joint Business Council, Amjad Rafi, suggested implementing a practical and efficient currency swap agreement to address challenges related to commercial banking channels and corresponding banks. Rafi also highlighted that land-based cargo transportation under the TIR system can significantly reduce transportation time to Istanbul and decrease transportation costs by more than 50% compared to sea-based cargo.
With these efforts and collaborations, Pakistan and Turkiye have the opportunity to strengthen their economic ties and mutually benefit from increased trade.
Source: [The Express Tribune](https://tribune.com.pk)
