ANKARA/ISLAMABAD   -    Prime Minister Shahbaz Shar­if on Sunday said that the target of increasing bilateral trade vol­ume between Pakistan and Tur­kiye to $5 billion annually over the next three years was very much achievable.

He also said that Pakistan sees high volume of bilateral trade between the two brother­ly countries in future. The prime minister concluded his two-day visit to Turkiye, where he at­tended the inauguration of Pres­ident Recep Tayyip Erdogan who had been re-elected for the third term in office. On his Twitter handle, the prime minister said that in his meetings with heads of leading Turkish business groups the other day, he high­lighted the need for investment and trade in the fields of agricul­ture, energy, information tech­nology and construction.

Exciting opportunities had emerged for collaboration es­pecially after the historic Trade-in-Goods Agreement between Pakistan & Turkiye became op­erational on May 31 this year, he added. “Was glad to find the dis­cernible interest of the Turkish business community in building on the existing partnerships & establishing new ventures,” the prime minister further noted in his tweet. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and President Recep Tayyip Er­dogan exchanged pleasantries during their interaction marked by interesting remarks on the in­auguration ceremony of the lat­ter yesterday.

President Erdogan’s spouse also joined the interaction. They appreciated Pakistani mangoes.

The prime minister conveyed felicitation to the president on his re-election and said that the Pakistani nation was overjoyed at his success.

He also thanked him for ex­tending an invitation to attend the ceremony and share their joys, said PM Office Media Wing in a press release.

The prime minister, on the oc­casion, expressed best wishes to the president. He informed President Erdogan and Emine Erdogan about the gift of Paki­stani mangoes which brought smiles to their faces.

President Erdogan reciprocat­ed by saying that he was aware of the sweetness and delicacy of Pakistani man­goes. Both the president and his spouse thanked the prime minister for his participation. The prime minister also in­teracted with different world leaders and discussed the bi­lateral ties and cooperation between Pakistan and their respective countries. He met former deputy prime minis­ter of Turkiye and Chairman MHP Devlet Bahceli and con­veyed his felicitation over success in the elections. On the occasion, he also met with Kosovo’s President Vjosa Os­mani-Sadriu. Both the lead­ers reiterated their desire to promote bilateral relations and cooperation in different fields. The prime minister also interacted with Iranian First Vice President Moham­mad Mokhber. The prime minister referred to the estab­lishment of market at the Ba­lochistan-Sistan border and his recent meeting with the Iranian president. Welcoming the commencement of barter trade between the two coun­tries, the prime minister ex­pressed the confidence that it would mutually benefit the people of both the brother­ly countries. In his meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the two leaders discussed regional coopera­tion, connectivity and further strengthening of bilateral co­operation in diverse fields. The prime minister also held meetings with various dele­gations of business and trade companies and entities of Turkiye and discussed pros­pects of vast business and in­vestment potential that exist­ed between the two brotherly countries in various sectors. His visit was a reaffirmation of the deep-rooted fraternal ties between Pakistan and Turki­ye. The prime minister con­veyed warm felicitations on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan to Presi­dent Erdogan on his re-elec­tion as President of Turkiye on May 28. “Pakistan-Turki­ye relationship is deeply em­bedded in commonalities of faith, culture and history, and strengthened by mutual trust and convergence of views on regional and global matters. Frequent leadership level ex­changes are a defining fea­ture of the eternal bonds of friendship between the two countries,” Foreign Office Spokesperson in the earlier statement had said. During the visit, the prime minister penned down his felicitation message along with his signa­tures on a special board set up on the inauguration of Pres­ident Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the third time in office.