Pakistan “genuinely” and seriously wanted to boost bilateral, trade, and cultural ties with Turkey, said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is on a three-day- official visit to Turkey, while meeting with business leaders there.

"We are here to convey this message to our Turkish brothers and sisters, President Recip Tayyip Erdogan and his team, and to the Turkish business community that we genuinely and seriously want to work with you," Sharif was quoted as saying by Dawn at the Turkey-Pakistan Business Council in Ankara.

Turkey, which is also home to thousands of Pakistani workers and students, has been an important trade partner for Islamabad. The visit comes at a time when Pakistan’s economy has been struggling and the government is trying to boost the confidence of foreign investors looking to invest in the country.

Addressing the council, Sharif said, “Today, we are here to seriously engage ourselves with you because you are very serious-minded business people, and your achievements are outstanding and a shining example for all of us."

"I am here today with my great team to convey this message to you in no uncertain terms, absolutely loud and clear, that we will welcome you with both arms to come and invest in Pakistan, promote trade," he added.

Pakistan is looking to enhance collaboration and cooperation in sectors like the automobile industry, agriculture, textile, and alternative energy. The country aims to target $5 billion in bilateral trade with Turkey in the next two years.

Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called on PM Sharif, Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other members of the Pakistani delegation who were also present at the meeting.

Turkey has continued supporting Pakistan over the years, and the friendship between the two countries is historic, with both nations maintaining extensive cultural, commercial, strategic and military cooperation. 

Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah had great admiration for Turkey's founding leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and expressed a desire to develop Pakistan on the Turkish model of modernism and secularism. Jinnah is honored as a great leader in Turkey, and a major road of the Turkish capital Ankara, Cinnah Caddesi, is named after him, while roads in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar, are named after Atatürk as a gesture of the love and attachment that both nations have for one another, according to Pakistani media. 

Other Pakistani leaders, from Pervez Musharraf to Imran Khan, have also expressed admiration for the 'Turkish model' and have sought strategic, political and economic relations with Turkey, whose leaders in turn, particularly Erdogan, have supported Pakistan in international forums on issues like Kashmir.  

(SAM)