On 14 February 2020, Islamabad and Ankara signed several memorandums of understanding (MoUs), aimed at boosting bilateral trade and economic engagement, enhance cultural and communication ties. Visiting President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Imran Khan witnessed the signing of the MoUs after the conclusion of Plenary Session of the 6th round of Pakistan-Turkey High Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Islamabad. The signed documents focus on engaging cooperation between the two countries’ education, culture and tourism, communication, military training, e-commerce and bilateral trade enhancement. The broadcasters of two countries TRT and PTV also came under the umbrella of the MoUs of cooperation.The two countries also signed an MoU for deepening collaboration in the energy sector.
The MoU proposes cooperation in the area of exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons and sharing of best practices in natural gas distribution, transmission, wholesale markets in the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) market.Turkish President stressed that the current volume of trade between Pakistan and Turkey has sufficient room to grow, outlining that the current figure of $804 million should reach the $1 billion mark, which will in turn be set for reaching $5 billion mark.
Erdogan also noted the ongoing cooperation between Ankara and Islamabad in the field of defense and the Turkish involvement in the 68 projects worth more than $3.5 billion. Among these projects are energy projects, which are pivotal to implement projects on electric power transmission that will connect Pakistan with the Central Asia, and on natural gas pipelines connecting Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.The wide range of MoUs will boost the growing ties between the two countries.