Turkey's Islamabad Commercial Counselor Demir Ahmet Şahin stated that they anticipate the start of freight train services between Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul at the end of September and said that the flights will accelerate the trade between Turkey and Pakistan.
Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO) continues its webinar programs to introduce investment and trade opportunities in target countries to Bursa companies. Trade and investment opportunities in the Pakistani market were evaluated in the 55th webinar organized by the Global Fair Agency. Islamabad Commercial Counselor Demir Ahmet Şahin and Karachi Commercial Attaché Eyyup Yıldırım attended the webinar moderated by BTSO Board Member Muhsin Koçaslan.
“OUR TRADE VOLUME DOES NOT REFLECT OUR STRONG POTENTIAL”
Speaking at the opening of the meeting, BTSO Board Member Muhsin Koçaslan noted that although they are in different geographies, Turkey and Pakistan have historical ties of brotherhood based on common religion and cultural heritage. Expressing that the trade volume between Turkey and Pakistan does not reflect the strong potential of the two countries, Koçaslan said, “We have 128 companies exporting from Bursa to Pakistan. We have a total export of 8,5 million dollars. Turkey-Pakistan bilateral trade is at the level of 800 million dollars. We certainly do not find these figures sufficient. We aim to take a more active position in the Pakistani market.” he said.
FOREIGN TRADE VOLUME OF 65 BILLION DOLLARS
Islamabad Commercial Counselor Demir Ahmet Şahin said that Pakistan is the 270th largest economy in the world with a GDP of 40 billion dollars. Stating that the foreign trade volume of Pakistan, which has a population of 220 million, is at the level of 65 billion dollars, Şahin said, “Pakistan, the 66th largest exporter of the world, is stuck in a narrow production and export base based on the cotton-textile and wheat trio. Textiles constitute 57 percent of the country's export products.” said.
ISTANBUL-ISLAMABAD TRAINS STARTING
Stating that the trade between Turkey and Pakistan is realized by sea and airway, Şahin continued his words as follows: “This situation causes foreign trade transactions to take longer and to be more costly. However, we anticipate the resumption of freight train services between Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul at the end of the month. Train services will make significant contributions to the trade relations between the two countries. ' he said.
THE WORLD'S 4TH LARGEST MARKET IN TABLE OILS
Karachi Commercial Attaché Eyyup Yıldırım gave information about the trade opportunities in Pakistan. Stating that there is a great interest in Turkish TV series in Pakistan, Yıldırım said that they want this interest to be reflected in Turkish products as well. Emphasizing that there are important opportunities in bilateral trade, Yıldırım said, “Pakistan is the 4th largest market in the world for table oils. They consume a lot of oil. In particular, there is a great interest in olive oil. We have a price and quality advantage against manufacturers such as Spain and Italy. On the other hand, there is a huge market for products such as pasta, biscuits, chocolate and carbonated drinks in the processed food sector in Pakistan, but our exports are not at sufficient levels yet.” said.
THERE IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY IN POWER GENERATION MACHINES
Informing that one-third of Pakistan's imports are in the machinery sector, Eyyup Yıldırım said, “Half of the machines come from China. There is an important need in the market, especially in power generation machines. Since the electricity infrastructure is not very good, outages are frequent. That's why a generator is needed. Again, there is an important potential in textile machinery. Food processing machinery is another potential area. The daily production amount in Pakistan, which is one of the largest milk producers in the world, is 95 million tons. A lot of machines are needed in this sector. There is significant opportunity in dairy and farm automation systems, dairy machinery and ice cream production equipment.” he said.
Karachi Commercial Attaché Eyyup Yıldırım also stated that they started working with Pakistani and Turkish fair companies with the aim of organizing a consumer products fair for Turkey in Pakistan, adding that they aim to increase the interest in Turkish products even more.
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