A delegation of Hashim Group of Turkey comprising Hasim Sὕngὕ,
Chairman and Alpay Cepni CEO visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry and
showed keen interest to explore business and investment opportunities in Pakistan.
They said that Hashim Group has business interests in many fields including real estate,
mining, tourism, education in Turkey and they have come to study Pakistani market for
JVs and investment. They said that Pakistan’s economy was starting to grow and it was
the right time to seek business prospects in the country.

The Turkish delegation said that exports of Turkey were over US$100 billion, but Turkey-
Pakistan bilateral trade of around US$ 800 million was far less than the actual potential
of both countries. However, it could be significantly improved by mutual efforts from
both sides. They said that Pakistan has bright future with great business prospects and
they wanted to bring construction technology and investment to Pakistan. They said
that education sector was another area of interest for them and they could bring
partners to Pakistan to invest in education, mining and other sectors. They said that they
intended to set up an office in Pakistan in near future so that they could take benefit of
potential of rising business and investment opportunities here.

Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber
of Commerce & Industry briefed the Turkish delegation about prospective areas of JVs
and investment in Pakistan. He said that Pakistan has huge potential for tourism, that
has been recognized by some international magazines and urged that Turkish investors
have greats prospects to invest in upgrading tourism infrastructure in Pakistan,
especially in northern areas. He said that Turkish investors could also invest in
infrastructure development, real estate, IT, automobile, housing and many other sectors
in Pakistan. He said that Pakistan was now at take off stage and time was ripe for Turkish
investors to increase their presence in Pakistani market. He said that by investing in
Pakistan, Turkish companies could also get easy access to Central Asia and many other
markets for exports. He said that Turkish companies should transfer technology to
Pakistan and help in accelerating the pace of industrialization in our country. He assured
that ICCI would fully cooperate with Turkish investors in finding right partners in
Pakistan. He said that Pakistan and Turkey should finalize FTA that would give significant
boost to bilateral trade.

Tahir Abbasi Senior Vice President ICCI, Muhammad Aslam Khokhar, Khalid Chaudhry
and others were also present at the occasion and they also assured the Turkish
delegation of their full support and cooperation in making safe investments in Pakistan.