PM returns from Turkey with hopes to get foreign investment

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan after his three-day trip to Turkey where he met the Turkish President and Prime Minister.

Sources told Geo News that during the high-profile meetings PM Nawaz signed 11 agreements with Turkey. During one of these meetings Turkey expressed its interest to invest in Pakistan on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The meetings were aimed at strengthening economic relations with Turkey.

"Afghanistan should realise that Pakistan is its well-wisher," he said during an interaction with the journalists at a breakfast meeting prior to his departure from Ankara after completing his three-day visit.

To a question about recent terror incidents in Pakistan, the prime minister said that though many links had been traced back into Afghanistan, Pakistan continued to favour the stability of its neighbour.

A peaceful Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan and the region, he added.

Mentioning several infrastructure projects in Afghanistan being funded by the Pakistan government, he said the four-lane Peshawar to Jalalabad motorway was 70 percent complete and feasibility work was underway on Peshawar-Kabul motorway.

"We believe in maintaining good relations with everyone and we demonstrated this spirit of goodwill with other states and within the country as well," he said.

To a question about CPEC, the prime minister said he did not sense any conspiracy by the United States or West on the project's implementation in Pakistan.

However, he pointed that "some regional powers" were unhappy with this project.

He viewed that Turkish participation in the CPEC along with Central Asian states, would give a boost to the project.

PM on Wednesday arrived in Turkey's capital Ankara to participate in the 5th Session of the Pakistan-Turkey High Level Strategic Cooperation Council (HLSCC).

He was accompanied by Begum Kalsoom Nawaz, Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir and PM's Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi.

In a joint address on Thursday with the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildrim, PM Nawaz reiterated that that terrorism is a common enemy that affects both Turkey and Pakistan.

The PM said Turkey and Pakistan should collaborate to invest in education, culture and tourism. “As we celebrate 70 years of our brotherly relations we should encourage people to people exchange.”

 *Additional input from APP