Despite enormous opportunity and scope, the Pak-Turkiye endeavors have not been developed in real sense of the word. The irony is that both the governments as also the businessmen from both the countries are eager to take ties to next level, but practically enough efforts are not ensured.

What is needed right now is to explore new avenues of promoting bilateral trade between the two countries in the wake of Pakistan's dwindling economy. To be very specific, Pakistan and Turkiye are close friends as they share various common grounds like they exercise same religion and are have also cultural affinities.

Most importantly, Turkiye has always been supporting Pakistan during testing times at international fronts like the crucial FATF meetings, but the previous government failed to make efforts to translate this Turkish support into an easing of trade policy between the two states. It is ironic that their deep-rooted ties do not reflect when we look at the existing trade volume between the two Muslim brethren countries. 

The current trade volume between the two states stands at mere $1 billion while the real potential for expanding that trade exists at $5 billion, so there is a huge gap and it is this gap which needs to be bridged. It is not that there is little scope for expansion of trade ties, the unfortunate thing has been that efforts have not been made to tap the existing potentials in the two countries. There exists a substantial scope for taking the Pak-Turkiye Trade to $5 billion but that requires a lot of hard work and dedication. 

However, the good thing is that the coalition government has started working on this front with a renewed zeal which expedited after PM Shahbaz recent visit to Turkiye and now a way has been paved for a series of new agreements. One such agreement titled the Trade in Goods Agreement (TGA) is going to finalise next month.

The most striking feature of this agreement is that Turkiye is going to increasing the number of flights from the three existing destinations i.e. Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad in Pakistan and is going to add at least two more cities-Islamabad and Faisalabad to it flights list in Pakistan. 

A  Turkish power distribution company is also keen to come to Pakistan and invest in Lahore. And most strikingly, this moot is to help enhance the bilateral trade volume by taking it to $5 billion in the next three years. In August last, both the countries inked the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with a view to boosting bilateral goods. Termed as the 'Trade in Goods Pact', the accord consists of comprehensive provisions on bilateral trade issues like the business safeguards, balance of payment issues, dispute settlement, and also the periodic review of this accord from time to time.

Though this is the milestone accord but till now it has failed to bear the bruit in real sense of the word. It remains to be seen how this accord becomes successful in unearthing the immense business opportunities between Turkey and Pakistan in diverse fields. One would advise the coalition government to take all the stakeholders on board while impementing the TGA to make it more viable and result-oriented.  

A joint task force consisting of relevant quarters like the politicians, officials, investors and eminent businessmen is a good idea as it will help devise ways and means to materialize and achieve the much-needed $5bn trade target in trade and investments. There is one more new aspect that has surfaced in Pak-Turkiye trade and strategic relations and that is CPEC which is said to be a game- changer not only for Pakistan but for the entire region including Turkiye.

That's why CPEC is also going to feature in discussions and deliberations between the two economic delegations of two countries when Turkiye delegation will visit Pakistan for the TGA next month. So the possibilities of how Turkiye can be roped in to benefit from CPEC which has a potential to be explored beyond boundaries. On the other hand, we know that Pakistan energy woes are taking toll on our economic productivity and this sector is another field where Turkiye can invest and it is good to note that Zorlu Energy Group, which presently has been operating a renewable energy project in Pakistan, is also contemplating to bring to Lahore a Power Generation Plant and also plans in establishing an electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities in our country.

It may be recalled here that in the past, a substantial increase by Turkish government in duties on Pak exports had badly impacted Pak exports to Turkiye and had drastically cut our outbound shipments to Ankara.  In 2017, Turkiye increased the duties on Pak exports form six per cent to a whopping 24 per cent due to which Pak exports to Turkiye were badly affected as they registered a huge cut of 69 per cent. 

On the contrary, Pakistan did not levy any such duties on Turkish good which poured our markets and Turkish imports increased. So this trade imbalance which is due to the barrier of high duties on Pak exports must be removed by the current Turkish regime. Traders ask as to why both the states have failed to increase the volume of bilateral trade despite the fact that both enjoy a deep-rooted friendship and stand by one another in time of need. It is not that the two bilateral trade is lacking in opportunities and potential, the only need is to find and explore these potentials with the help of FTA. There is high potential in trade with Turkiye in the sectors of clothing and apparels, cotton fabrics, carpets, and home textiles, also the plastics products and foot-wears and plastic goods. It may be recalled here that Turkiye is also the member of World Trade Organisation and is very much empowered to grant GSP-Plus status to our country. Since 2011, Pakistan is trying to pushing Turkey to do so but all in vain. It is really disturbing and lamentable that this friendly Muslim country has awarded investment incentives and  duties concessions to a number of countries of the region except our country.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 05 2022

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