Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the Turkey-Pakistan Business Forum in Pakistan on Friday.

Touching upon trade and economic ties between Turkey and Pakistan, Erdoğan said: "We want to raise our trade and economic ties with Pakistan to the level of our political relations. Despite the recent increase in trade and investments, we are still way behind our potential. To be honest, I find it unbefitting that Turkey and Pakistan, with a total population of nearly 804 million, have a trade volume that stands at just $804 million. We should first increase our bilateral trade to over 1 $billion and then carry it to $5 billion. We of course cannot achieve this goal just by wishing. We need to take clear and strong steps with determination towards our shared goal."

Underlining that Turkey does not differentiate between its own businesses and international companies that invest in the country, Erdoğan stated: "We support international investments not only through legal regulations but also on a corporate basis. Our doors are open to anyone who trusts in our country’s investment potential, and we will keep them open. We pursue a model whereby we offer citizenship to international entrepreneurs in return for real estate investment under certain conditions. No one, who has trusted in our country’s potential and invested in Turkey, has ever regretted it. We also want our Pakistani brothers and sisters to have confidence in our country, the Turkish economy, and Turkey’s future." (ILKHA)