President Erdogan’s visit to further strengthen Pak-Turkey ties: PM Imran

Premier lauds Ankara’s steadfast support to Islamabad’s principled stance on Kashmir issue

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed hope that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s upcoming visit to Pakistan would prove to be another milestone in further cementing the bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries in diverse fields.

The Turkish president is scheduled to visit Islamabad on February 13 to iron out any differences created due to PM Imran’s last minute back out of the Kuala Lampur Summit (KL Summit) in December 2019.

Pakistan initially confirmed its participation at the summit but changed its mind after Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries voiced concerns over it. Riyadh viewed the summit as an attempt to create a new Islamic bloc.

Islamabad made frantic efforts to convince the Saudi leadership to join the moot but could not bridge the differences between Kuala Lumpur and the oil-rich kingdom.

During the summit, Erdogan told Turkish media that Riyadh pressured Imran to shun the KL Summit by threatening to send 4 million Pakistani workers back and withdraw billions of dollars from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), a claim Riyadh rejected outright.

The premier, while chairing a high-level meeting regarding the forthcoming visit on Monday, appreciated the leadership of the brotherly country for supporting in no uncertain terms Pakistan’s principled stance on the Kashmir issue, according to a statement issued by the PM Office.

PHOTO: INP

The two countries, the prime minister said, enjoyed brotherly ties and stood shoulder to shoulder with each other in difficult times.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, Advisor on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood, the federal secretaries and other senior officials.

Matters pertaining to further promotion of bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries in different sectors during the Turkish president’s visit were also discussed in details during the meeting.

The prime minister observed that leadership of both countries had been sincerely striving to further strengthen the bilateral relations especially the economic ties in all sectors. He also directed the relevant secretaries to pay special attention on the implementation of matters which would be agreed during the upcoming visit.

The minister for economic affairs was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring progress on the bilateral pacts which would be reached during the visit. The prime minister also directed holding of monthly meetings to review progress on those agreed matters.