Pakistan wants closer agriculture trade ties with Turkey

Pakistan Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal is urging Pakistan-Turkey cooperation in areas such as producing hybrid seeds, developing efficient irrigation system and food processing.

The minister was talking to Turkish ambassador to Pakistan M Babur Hizlan on Friday (Mar 19).

Gondal said Turkey was in a better position to help Pakistani exporters in accessing the EU market. He said that Pakistan could offer joint ventures to Turkish processors and investors, with reference to fruits, vegetables, fish, milk and Halal meat.

Apart from co-operation in organic farming, food security and value addition; cold chains and refrigerated containers for milk are major areas of attraction for the Turkish investors as Pakistan is one of the largest milk producers in the world.

The Turkish envoy said that his country would like to add value to Pakistani agricultural products in Turkey and exporting them to EU could be a productive proposition. Turkey is a member of the EU Customs Union and need not pay taxes on exports to the EU, so Pakistan can easily use the Turkish market to export its products to the EU.

Gondal said that Turkish seed industries could enter into a joint venture with the Pakistani Seed Companies to locally produce the hybrid seeds of corn, cotton, fruits and vegetables.

He said Turkey had a vast and long experience in high efficiency pressurised irrigation system and Pakistan needs collaboration for capacity building and training of service providers and manufacturing of drip irrigation equipment.