Islamabad, Ankara chambers sign MoU

Islamabad
The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has signed a protocol of cooperation with the Ankara Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Turkey to further improve commercial ties and promote bilateral trade between Pakistan and Turkey.
ICCI President Muzzamil Hussain Sabri and Ankara Chamber of Commerce & Industry president signed the MoU. The signing ceremony was held at the Prime Minister's House in the presence of Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu.
By signing the MoU of cooperation, Islamabad and Ankara chambers of commerce and industry have agreed to work for further developing and strengthening trade and commercial relations between the two brotherly countries. Both chambers would extend all possible help to each other in enhancing exchange of trade delegations to explore match-makings and collaborations in areas of mutual interest. They would also exchange information about trade fairs and exhibitions as well as share researches, market study reports, statistics and documents related to commercial and economic aspects for mutual benefit.
They shall cooperate in supporting SMEs by exchanging expertise in training and skills development fields. Both Chambers would facilitate the businessmen of each other country in exploring joint ventures and investment opportunities and help in better penetration of markets.
After signing the MoU, Muzzamil Hussain Sabri, in a statement, said that despite possessing great potential to promote trade ties, but due to lack of connectivity between private sectors of two countries bilateral trade between Pakistan and Turkey was less than US $1 billion. He stressed that both countries should facilitate direct contacts between private sectors to improve the volume of two way trade. He was optimistic that the protocol of cooperation signed between Islamabad and Ankara Chambers of Commerce & Industry would help in exploring new avenues of mutual cooperation and increasing trade volume to significant level.
He said it was encouraging that during the current visit of Turkish Prime Minister, Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to commence negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement that would greatly help in increasing bilateral trade. He said Turkey was emerging as a strong economy and Pakistan could achieve lot of gains by promoting trade and investment cooperation with Turkey.