ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Turkey decided on Sunday to upgrade their strategic partnership for combating terrorism and to strengthen political, diplomatic, security and economic cooperation.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and said the two countries shared the resolve to defeat terrorism.

The Turkish prime minister is on a two-day official visit to Pakistan.

Pakistan and Turkey signed a joint declaration to strengthen relations in trade, investment, agriculture, industry, culture, education and defence and to bolster people-to-people contacts. They agreed to increase their trade from $741 million a year to $2 billion in a couple of years.

Prime Minister Erdogan said Pakistan and Turkey were committed to working for peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Turkey which has 1,700 troops in Afghanistan will assume the command of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) on Nov 1. Answering a question he said that his country did not intend to send more troops to that country.

Prime Minister Gilani and Mr Erdogan said they had an ‘excellent’ interaction marked by unanimity of views on all issues of mutual interest.

They decided to set up a ‘high-level cooperation council to oversee and steer the unique partnership to even greater heights’.

The council headed by the two prime ministers will meet at least once a year and ministers of energy, trade, investment and security will attend the meetings.

The Turkish prime minister said Pakistan was passing through a rough patch, but expressed the hope that it would be able to overcome its problems.

He said the two sides had discussed joint ventures in defence sector and decided to create a platform to jointly combat terrorism.

Measures will be taken to ‘broaden and deepen’ security cooperation and increase interaction between their intelligence agencies to eradicate terrorism and illicit arms trafficking and organisations involved in these crimes.

Trade relations will be energised and a chief executive officers’ forum will be launched for greater involvement of private sectors. The forum will meet on the sidelines of talks at the leadership level.

Prime Minister Erdogan, who is accompanied during the visit by an 80-member delegation of CEOs, termed the present trade volume of $741 million insignificant. ‘We have put forward an objective to raise it to $2 billion a year, but this too is not significant,’ he said, adding that the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency would also strive to help boost bilateral trade.

Replying to a question, Prime Minister Gilani said there was no threat to democracy and all state institutions, including parliament, judiciary and media, were working in the right direction.

He said the talks had focussed on peace and stability in Afghanistan and coordinated efforts to promote trans-regional cooperation and joint projects.

The prime minister said Pakistan greatly valued its strategic partnership with Turkey which was rooted in shared interests and common concerns and perceptions on regional and global issues.

APP adds:

Responding to a question about infiltration from Afghanistan, Prime Minister Erdogan termed it a ‘disturbing issue’ and said Turkey would be in a better position to deal with it after assuming Isaf’s command.

He said he would talk to the secretary general of Nato and try to address concerns over the issue.

He said terrorism recognised no boundaries or religions. ‘It is the biggest mistake to kill a person in the name of religion,’ he said.

Stressing the need for flexibility and tolerance, he said that one should adopt the middle ground regardless of his ideology.

Prime Minister Gilani said Pakistan wanted brotherly relations with Afghanistan and appreciated the role of Turkey in this regard through a tripartite arrangement.

He said Pakistan was appreciative of Turkey’s constructive role in Afghanistan. ‘We look forward to our continued engagement for ensuring prosperity and development in the region.’

About the CEOs’ forum, he said: ‘We are confident that it will help unleash the potential of private sector entrepreneurship.’

The forum aims at enhancing cooperation in road and rail transportation, initiating negotiations on a maritime agreement, encouraging private sectors’ investment initiatives, strengthening links between banks and promoting partnership in the energy sector. Mr Erdogan said there were many commodities the two countries could exchange. Besides, he added, there was scope for boosting cooperation in the construction sector, infrastructure development, housing, agriculture and several other areas.