ISTANBUL: President Mamnoon Hussain and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday urged the need of joint efforts to tackle challenges confronting Muslim Ummah.
The two leaders, who met on the sidelines of the 13th Islamic Summit of the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) being hosted by Turkey from April 10 to 15, also discussed the matters of bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and international issues.
President Mamnoon and President Erdogan also agreed to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation in diverse areas including trade, economy, energy, infrastructure for the mutual benefit of the two brotherly countries. Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Ambassador of Pakistan to Turkey Sohail Mehmood and senior officials were also present in the meeting.
Describing the current trade volume with Turkey as “very low”, he urged the need to take the trade level that commensurate with the close political ties. He appreciated the growing participation of Turkish companies in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan.
The president also sought Turkish investment in several sectors including low-cost housing, food procession and others. He highly appreciated Turkey’s active role in the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir and the arrangements made by Turkey for its meeting in Istanbul. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s support on issues of vital importance to Turkey including Northern Cyprus. The president also urged the need of efforts for maintaining unity and solidarity among the OIC member states.
He appreciated Turkey for hosting the first World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on May 23, and assured the Turkish president that Pakistan would be well represented at the summit. Later, President Mamnoon also attended a dinner hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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