Chitral Times Report
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan, at a high level meeting on Monday, approved the detailed Plan of Action for Pak-Turkey Strategic Economic Framework. The Plan of Action will be shared with the Turkish side for finalization and formal signing of the Strategic Economic Framework as early as possible. Secretary Economic Affairs Division, during his presentation, briefed the Prime Minister that the plan to forge greater bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey under the proposed SEF includes cooperation in agriculture, low-costing housing, tourism & culture, investment & industrial cooperation, auto industry, banking & finance, health and pharmaceuticals, transport & communication, education & vocational training, aviation, water resource development, energy & power, science & technology, information communication technology, development planning, postal services and implementation of small scale projects. The two sides are also in contact to enhance cooperation in textile sector in order to capitalize the potential of the two countries by developing infrastructure and exploring possibility for undertaking joint ventures for value added products for export to third country. The Prime Minister while expressing satisfaction over the steady progress towards finalizing Pak-Turkey Strategic Economic Framework appreciated the efforts of Minister for Finance and Secretary Economic Affairs Division for actively pursuing the SEF. The Prime Minister directed the relevant ministries to complete their spadework so that immediate implementation of SEF could be ensured as soon as it is signed. It may be recalled that during Prime Minister’s visit to Turkey in January 2019, the leadership of the two countries had decided to formulate a Strategic Economic Framework (SEF) to forge greater collaboration and enhance bilateral cooperation in all possible areas for the mutual benefit of the people of two countries. To implement the vision of the leadership, a draft SEF, approved by the Prime Minister, was shared with the Turkish government in February 2019 which followed by a detailed response from Turkish side during last month. The meeting was attended among others by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Mr. Asad Umar, Communication Minister Mr. Murad Saeed, Planning Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Power Minister Mr. Omar Ayub, Advisor Commerce Mr. Abdul Razzak Dawood, Chairman BOI Mr. Haroon Sharif and senior officials of relevant ministries.