June 17, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1424

ISLAMABAD, June 16: Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan on Monday urged the Pakistani businessmen to benefit from Turkish expertise by establishing joint ventures with their Turkish counterparts.

He was speaking at a function organized here by the Export Promotion Bureau for the delegation comprising nearly 100 Turkish businessmen and the Turkish Minister of State for Foreign Trade Kursat Tuzmen. A large number of Pakistani business were also present on the occasion.

“We are interested both in exchange of technology and manpower,” the minister remarked, noting that in addition to textiles, Turkish businessmen also invested in joint ventures in construction business with their Pakistani counterparts.

Pakistan, he added, had good know-how in building materials and construction. Turkey should benefit in this field from Pakistan, he suggested. Services sector, tourism and telecommunications, and food processing were other sectors in which the two countries could cooperate for mutual advantage.

The minister said at present the trade volume with Turkey is very low, but the government had adopted various measures to help the business community expand trade ties. In this connection, he noted the State Bank had allowed businessmen to take out foreign exchange for entrepreneurship and entering in joint ventures abroad.

The government of Pakistan, Mr Humayun recalled, had followed the policy of deregulation, liberalization and disinvestment of state-owned enterprises since early 1990s. This policy had already produced its desired results in the shape of stabilization of national economy, he added.

The commerce minister also emphasized that frequent exchanges of trade delegations would boost economic cooperation between the two countries. Stressing the need of single-country exhibitions, he welcomed the move by the FPCCI to hold such an exhibition in Turkey soon.

He also urged his Turkish counterpart to consider staring a direct shipping channel between the two countries to facilitate exporters.

Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade Kursat Tuzmen said Turkey was fully ready for joint ventures in trade and business, besides other areas.

He disclosed that only 23 Pakistani companies were working in Turkey as against 6,000 companies from other countries engaged in joint ventures.

Mr Tuzmen said Turkish exports had grown from only $3 billion in 1980 to $35 billion in the current year. Likewise, the imports had multiplied from $8 billion to $50 billion. Next year, the exports were expected to move up to $40 billion and imports to $60 billion.

Welcoming the suggestion by the Pakistan side about the establishment of a shipping channel between the two countries, Mr Tuzmen pointed out that a viable shipping arrangement would depend on the growth of bilateral trade to an appropriate level. At present, the total trade between Pakistan and Turkey was no more than $166 million per annum.

During the conference, the Privatization Commission secretary gave an elaborate presentation on the Commission’s policy. He identified a number of upcoming privatization operations of various public sector organizations such as Habib Bank Limited, Pakistan State Oil, OGDCL, National Refinery Limited, etc.

Meanwhile, the EPB and the economic adviser’s wing of Ministry of Commerce arranged direct negotiations between the visiting Turkish businessmen and their Pakistan counterparts.