The Ministers noted with satisfaction that an unprecedentedly positive relationship existed between the elected leaderships of both the countries, which provided the political will to deepen and widen simultaneously the historical friendship between the Pakistani and the Turkish peoples.

Both Ministers agreed that taking the Pak-Turk relationship forward in the twenty-first century required that both countries traded extensively with the invested in each other.

Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan and Mehmet Zafer Caglayan also reviewed the 6th round of official-level talks on Pak-Turk Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), which was concluded here today.

Pakistan raised the issue of additional protective duties imposed in 2011 by Turkey on fabric and garments from Pakistan as well as the quantity- restriction on rice, while Turkey stressed opening up to Pakistan's automobile and pharmaceutical sectors.

Minister of State for commerce and Textile Industry noted that during an official visit to Turkey in September this year, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had allowed Turkish Airlines to start operating direct flights from Turkey to Lahore.

The Government, he said also issued the required permissions promptly and Turkish Airlines began operations to Lahore at the end of November.

Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan also highlighted that aggressive infrastructure and privatization policies of PML-N government offered tremendous investment opportunities to Turkish companies.

Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan and Mehmet Zafer Caglayan agreed to conclude the PTA negotiations at the earliest and to facilitate investment.

(APP)