Erdogan to address Pakistan's parliament during upcoming visit

ISLAMABAD: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will address the joint sitting of the parliament on February 14, Speaker  National Assembly Asad Qaiser said Thursday.

Erdogan is scheduled to visit Pakistan on February 13. Qaiser further said that the Turkish president is also expected to hold talks with parliamentarians during his visit to the country.

In an interview to Anadolu Agency a couple of days ago, PM Imran said Erdogan's visit to Pakistan will strengthen ties between the two countries. 

He lauded Erdogan's statement against India on the Kashmir issue and said that governments of the two countries were developing strong contacts with each other.

PM Imran had said Erdogan was expected to bring along various business houses and investors who would meet their Pakistani counterparts with an aim to enhance bilateral trade.

He had also said Turkey could help Pakistan in many sectors including mining, adding Pakistan also desires the transfer of technology  from Turkey in various areas.

Pakistan-Turkey ties after PM Imran cancels KL summit

Relations between Pakistan and Turkey became strained when PM Imran cancelled his trip to Kuala Lumpur at the last minute. A summit of leading Muslim countries were supposed to gather at the summit to discuss issues being faced by the Muslim community.

A group of Muslim countries led by Saudi Arabia, boycotted the event. Saudi Arabia said its leaders were not attending the summit because it was being held outside the aegis of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation based in Jeddah.

Erdogan claimed that Saudi Arabia had threatened Pakistan with economic consequences to coerce it into skipping the moot.

"Unfortunately, we see that Saudi Arabia pressures Pakistan," Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah quoted Erdogan as saying.

"Now, there are promises that the country has given to Pakistan regarding the central bank. However, more than that, there are 4 million Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia. They (threaten by saying that they) would send (Pakistanis) back and re-employ Bangladeshi people instead," Erdogan was quoted as saying in an interview.

"We see Saudi Arabia issuing economic threats to Pakistan and threatening to replace the 4 million Pakistani workers with Bangladeshi workers."