The friendship between Pakistan and Turkey is exceptionally strong. During the celebration of Turkey’s centenary national day, Pakistan is enthusiastic and is part of the celebrations. With the new Turkish Consul General posted in Lahore and with his arrival, this friendship should further flourish, but despite this strong friendship, the level of ties between the two countries should have a positive impact on business activities, but it is not there and it is possible to easily achieve more achievements in this sector.  Turkey is also the member of World Trade Organisation and is very much in a position to help Pakistan get GSP-Plus status which will be a great economic achievement for Pakistan. However, efforts in this regard have proved in van and since 2011, Pakistan is trying to pushing Turkey to do so but all in vain.

Financial experts have described the expansion of Pak-Turkey business cooperation as the need of the hour.

The two countries are connected in deep, historical and religious relations. Our heritage and culture are common. Both of them have common thoughts on various regional and international issues. That’s Pakistan wants to invite Turkey to join more economic ties with Pakistan and for this one platform is CEPC, which is game changer project.

Pakistan and Turkey have supported each other in every difficulty and brotherly relations between the two countries are getting stronger day by day.  But the same should also be in the business sector as well like we have with China.

On the other hand, the Pak-China friendship is also exceptional and the same has started reflecting in business ties as well with the recent endevaouars.

 Recently economic and financial experts gave a similar talk in the symposium organized in connection with the Third Belt and Road Forum, which was organized by the Chairman of the Institute of International Relations and Media Research.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chairman of Institute of International Relations and Media Research,  submitted that there is no doubt that the friendship between Pakistan and China is higher than mountains, deeper than seas and sweeter than honey, but it is yet to be even higher. There is scope for deepening and steps have been taken towards this in the Third BRF Forum. And along with this, more such measures have been taken in Pakistan which will further strengthen the economic relations between the two countries. For the development of these economic relations, it is necessary to increase the cultural ties between the two countries, to make Urdu and Chinese language common in both countries, and especially for those people who are connected with each other in matters of trade, education, etc.  Similarly, the Chinese in Pakistan are facing difficulties in terms of food, supply of their authentic Chinese spices and this is a problem that needs to be solved immediately. The security issue of the Chinese in Pakistan should also be taken notice of. There should not be any delay because the protection of the foreigners in the country is the most important part of the national dignity. The good thing is that the revolutionary nature project ML-1 in Pakistan Railways, which unfortunately could not be started yet, is set to see the light of day as work to start on this project.

 Consensus between the two countries on the upgradation of the port is also of great importance and now it is necessary to remove every obstacle in the way of these two projects. Along with this, the twenty MoUs which have been signed regarding BRI, mining, industry green projects, infrastructure, increasing exports of agricultural commodities to China should also be worked on very vigorously.

In Pakistan, only recently a major step has been taken to increase trade with China, which was much needed for a long time and especially after the inauguration of CPEC.

The People’s Bank of China has appointed the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as the clearing agent of the Chinese currency RMB in Pakistan and the RMB Clearing Bank has been established.

It was a long-standing wish of the businessmen of both the countries that there should be a facility to conduct mutual trade in Chinese currency.

It should be kept in mind that Pakistan before taking this step saw that the Chinese currency stands in the same position as the US dollar or other major currencies in Pakistan’s currency regulatory landscape.

For this reason, State Bank of Pakistan has established a regulatory framework to facilitate the use of Chinese currency. Thanks to this regulatory framework, it has become very easy for the public and private sectors to open LCs in RMB as well as the facility of financing in Chinese currency.

Both the public and private sectors have been greatly facilitated in the business use of Chinese currency. If the business community of the two countries use Chinese currency in mutual trade, not only time will be saved but also the cost of manufacturing the products will be reduced and in this way it will be possible to provide goods to consumers at a lower price.

By the way, the clear data of the increase in the use of RMB between the two countries is also coming out. For example, until 2018, the use of RMB for imports was only two percent, but by 2022, it has reached more or less eighteen percent.

There is still much to be done. For example, meat can be exported to China on a large scale from Pakistan, similarly huge consumption of agricultural products is possible in China. Cooperation with China is being done in the agricultural sector, but there is still a need for more cooperation in the fields of high-quality seed breeding, food processing, technical and vocational education.

In a nutshell, there is great scope for business ties with both Turkey and China and time has come to explore new dimensions in this regard.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 03 2023

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