Turkish government to strengthen trade ties with Pakistan is ready to sign the much-awaited Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with Pakistan. From the Turkish side there is nothing pending but there seems to be a delay by the Pakistani government, according to the Turkish official.

With the signing of PTA, the Pakistani textile exporters could have direct access at reduced rate to Turkish markets. This will also provide opportunity to the Turkish investors to fully benefit from the economic opportunities available in Pakistan in the field of energy, textile, telecommunication, construction and tourism.

Murat Mustu, Commercial Attaché at the Consulate General of Republic of Turkey during his visit the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Wednesday said that with the signing of PTA, concession on many goods will be granted to Pakistani exporters to penetrate deeper into the Turkish market Through common efforts, they can positively lift a existent trade volume to new heights and investments in the countries.

He informed that a three-member delegation will be visiting the KCCI on Aug 13 to brief its members about 15th MUSIAD International Fair and 18th International Business Forum Conference scheduled to be organized at CNR Centre in Istanbul from Nov 26-30. Besides Karachi, this delegation will also be visiting Lahore and Islamabad to seek advices on how they can boost bilateral trade.

Another two-member Turkish delegation will also be arriving in Pakistan soon to ensure participation of Pakistani businessmen in ‘Istanbul Jewellery Show’ to be held from Oct 16-19.

However, Chairman Diplomatic Af¬¬fairs Sub-Committee KCCI, Abdul Jabbar, pointed out the imposition of anti-dumping duty on textile products in July 2011 by Turkish government which affected Pakistan’s textile export. He sought Turkish attaché’s assistance in persuading its government to abolish this duty that terribly influenced Pakistan exports which, if removed, will markedly improve Pakistan’s textile exports to Turkey.

The trade volume between Pakistan and Turkey had rossed the $1 billion mark in 2010-11, which fell 50% in 2012 only due to the economic safeguards imposed by the Turkish government to protect its domestic industry against the Pakistani exports of textile.

Abdullah Zaki, KCCI President stressed the need to fast-track work on signing of the PTA which would significantly improve the trade volume between the two countries.

PTA would yield concessions on a series of products to Pakistan’s exporters, who would have a advantage to uniformly dig into a Turkish market. After China, Turkey is the main economic market for Pakistani exporters and importers and the two governments should take diplomatic, economic and administrative measures to strengthen bilateral trade relations amongst entrepreneurs.