Pakistan, Turkey sign three accords

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Turkey signed three bilateral agreements for cooperation in agro-based industries, investment and planning, on Wednesday.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Turkish President Abdullah Gul witnessed the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understandings (MoUs) at the Aiwan-i-Sadr on Wednesday as representatives of respective organisations inked the accords.

Advisor to Prime Minister on Economic Affairs Dr Hafeez Sheikh signed the MoU on planning which seeks to strengthen mutual cooperation by means of exchange of information, research and planning studies and institutional capacity building. Both the countries agreed to benefit to the extent possible from expertise of each other in national and regional planning, strategic planning, economic models and activities, international and inter-regional cooperation, preparation and evaluation of development plans and their annual programmes, sustainable and e-government.

The MoU on agriculture, signed by Minister for Agriculture Nazar Mohammad Gondal and Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs Mehmet Mehdi Eker from the Turkish side, seeks to strengthen cooperation in the field of agro-based industry on the basis of mutual benefit and to achieve higher levels of efficiency in production, processing and marketing of agro-based industry components.

The agreement also seeks to promote and encourage private sectors of the two countries to establish sole propriety enterprises, as well as joint ventures, including industrial units in export processing zones outside urban areas, other agreed locations and in rural areas at existing clusters in Pakistan and encourage investment in areas, such as fruits, food processing, vegetables and flower products processing units, corporate livestock farming, dairy industry, poultry farming and production, cold storage facilities and commercial production of seeds and nurseries commercial production of flowers, spices and medicinal herbs.

The accord on commercial cooperation was signed between the Board of Investment and Turkish Investment Support and Promotion Agency. The Pakistani side was represented by BoI chairman Saleem H. Mandviwala, and the Turkish side was led by Buyukelci Engin Soysal, Mustesar Yardimeisi. Under the MoU, the Board of Investment and Turkish Investment Support and Promotion Agency agreed to