LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that promotion of brotherly trade relations between Turkey and Pakistan is his priority and people of Pakistan will traverse the journey to progress and prosperity neck and neck their Turk brethren and will turn the dream of promotion of bilateral fraternal relations into a reality.
He said Pak-Turk relations are deep rooted and based on sound foundation while promotion of sentiments of love and mutual cooperation between the peoples of the two countries is the worthwhile lesson of history and the joint measures in that direction will ultimately, result in the achievement of the goal of progress and prosperity.
He was speaking at the signing ceremony of four Memorandum of Understanding between Turk Finance Ministry, Exim Bank and the Punjab government at Municipality Convention Center on the last day of his visit to Turkey. These MoUs pertain to intelligence, traffic system, rapid bus transit, Punjab Skills Development Funds, Bayhez Holding and Punjab Vocational Training Council.
The Chief Minister said he was returning from Turkey with high hopes. He expressed the hope that his visit to Turkey will help improve the civic amenities especially for the people of Punjab, reform the police system, and strengthen the infrastructure. He termed the setting up of new vocational institutes with cooperation of Turkey a milestone which will help in imparting various skills to youth and enable them achieve self sufficiency and play their role in national development.
He said that guidance will be sought from Turkey for the uplift of transport sector and joint measures will be taken for the provision of modern and affordable transport facility to the masses.
Shahbaz Sharif said he was feeling himself as if he was in Lahore despite being in Turkey. He said talks with Turkey will continue in future as well for promoting bilateral cooperation and Turkey takes pride in the development of Pakistan. He said cities of Pakistan will soon be as beautiful and peaceful as Istanbul and Ankara.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister attended a signing ceremony of an agreement between Punjab Vocational Training Council and Turkish Training School in Istanbul under which the Turk-Pak institution will give vocational training certification of European standard and its technical graduates will be able to avail themselves of job opportunities in Middle East and Europe. Chairman, Punjab Vocational Training Council, Faisal Khan and Irfan Aksoy signed the agreement on behalf of Punjab and Turkey. Khawaja Ahmad Hasaan, Hafiz Abdul Nauman, Mehr Ishtiaq Ahmad, Ambassador of Pakistan in Turkey, secretaries of Finance, Transport and Information departments were present.