Erdogan: Turkey, Azerbaijan and Pakistan expand cooperation

Baku/26.11.22/Turan: Turkey's trilateral cooperation with Pakistan and Azerbaijan is developing rapidly, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan  stated at a joint press conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who is on a visit to Turkey, on November 26. Commenting on the results of the talks, he said that the leaders of Turkey and Pakistan discussed bilateral cooperation, Anadolu reported. According to the President, the parties also exchanged views on important regional and international issues of the common agenda.

He noted that Turkey and Pakistan are successfully implementing a number of joint cooperation projects aimed at ensuring peace and stability in South Asia.

The head of state added that the volume of trade between the two countries reached $1 billion and continues to grow. "We have the necessary political will and determination to achieve the goal of bringing our trade to $5 billion," he said.

The Turkish leader also commented on the situation in Afghanistan. He stressed that the establishment of "peace and stability in Afghanistan, in addition to our humanitarian duty to our Afghan brothers, is important in terms of common threats and risks."

According to him, Ankara and Islamabad will continue joint efforts to "eliminate the consequences of the humanitarian crisis faced by the Afghan people." President Erdogan also confirmed Ankara's support for Islamabad's fight against terrorism. "We have always regarded Pakistan's pain as our pain, its joy as our joy, and its success as our success," the Turkish president said.

Shahbaz Sharif, in turn, proposed extending the route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through Turkey's accession to it. The Prime Minister stressed that this would open up "excellent opportunities" for the parties.

“China and Pakistan are great friends, and we are taking advantage of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor under President Xi Jinping's One Belt, One Road Initiative. I would suggest that this be cooperation between China, Pakistan and Turkey,” Sharif said in particular.

The head of government expressed confidence that such cooperation between the three countries "will bring prosperity and progress to the entire region."

“This will help reduce poverty and unemployment. This will also contribute to the development of education. In this way, we will be able to meet the challenges of today,” said the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Shahbaz Sharif also expressed condolences to Turkey in connection with the death of people as a result of a terrorist act committed on November 13 in Istanbul.—0—