Pakistan-Turkiye strategic relations

Pakistan and Turkiye share a historically deep-rooted, strategic partnership which is generally dubbed as “Two States, One Nation.” Their relationship was anchored by strong defence collaboration such as joint naval warship projects and military exercises, extensive cultural and religious affinity, and a Preferential Trade Agreement signed in August 2022 to boost bilateral economy.
Bilateral relations between the two brotherly Islamic countries can easily be categorised as falling in the domains of Institutional Cooperation, Defence and Security, Economic and Trade Relations, and Cultural and People-to-People ties.
These relations were further bolstered, promoted and strengthened when Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif paid another official, short but quite hectic visit to Turkiye at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He had reached Istanbul and was accorded a warm welcome after arriving from Tehran, where he had gone to offer personal condolences to the people and leadership of Iran over the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the ongoing USA-Israel coalition’s unwarranted attack on Iran, which had endangered the peace and stability of the Middle East region, most unfortunately, for quite a long time.
PM Shehbaz Sharif held bilateral discussions with the host Turkish President in a free, frank and mutually beneficial manner, addressed a joint press conference with President Erdogan, and also addressed senior executives of Turkiye’s leading business groups and industrial organizations prior to flying back to Islamabad after visiting Iran and Turkiye. This was PM Shehbaz Sharif’s fourth visit to Turkiye and his 44th foreign visit to 20 countries during his ongoing second tenure since March 2024. These visits quite obviously focused heavily on economic diplomacy, securing foreign investments and strengthening global partnership.
During their bilateral interaction, the Turkish President and the visiting Pakistani PM vowed to elevate the strategic partnership between their countries, pledged to achieve $5 billion in bilateral trade through expanded economic engagement, and reaffirmed their commitment to deeper cooperation in trade, investment, energy and defence.
While addressing a joint news conference following delegation-level talks, PM Shehbaz Sharif quite categorically declared that Turkiye’s success was Pakistan’s success, reaffirmed Islamabad’s resolve to further deepen its unique partnership with Ankara, as he and the Turkish President had pledged to enhance mutual cooperation in trade, investment, energy, defence and regional peace, described Pakistan and Turkiye as “two hearts, one soul,” and said the enduring friendship between the two countries was rooted in centuries of shared history, common faith, mutual sacrifice and an unbreakable bond of brotherhood. Pakistan has always found a home in the hearts of the Turkish people, just as Turkiye has lived in the hearts of every Pakistani.
He recalled Turkiye’s unwavering support during Pakistan’s most difficult moments, including wars, earthquakes and devastating floods, described his discussions with President Erdogan as very comprehensive and highly productive, expressed satisfaction over the growing momentum in bilateral trade, investment and industrial cooperation, reaffirmed his country’s principled support for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and thanked Turkiye for its steadfast backing of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and their legitimate right to self-determination.
President Erdogan, for his part, said that the two leaders had reviewed bilateral, regional and global developments with a strong focus on further expanding economic cooperation, reaffirmed his country’s continued solidarity with Pakistan in every field, said the trade ministries of both countries were working on establishing a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Karachi for Turkish businesses, and that negotiations were also underway to expand the scope of the Pakistan-Turkiye Preferential Trade Agreement. He expressed confidence that the Pakistan-Turkiye Business-to-Business (B2B) conference would further strengthen bilateral investment and commercial ties, and said Turkiye was also encouraging its investors to engage in more activities in Pakistan. He concluded by highlighting that defence cooperation between the two countries was one of the cornerstones of bilateral economic relations, and that collaboration in defence continued to grow stronger with the launching of new joint projects.
During his meeting with senior executives of Turkiye’s leading business groups and industry organizations, PM Shehbaz Sharif invited them to increase their investment in Pakistan across a wide range of sectors, and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to expanding economic cooperation with Turkiye and attracting more Turkish investment in key areas of the national economy.
The PM’s visit to Turkiye was short and hectic, but it had still turned out to be quite productive in more than one way, and the strategic partnership between the two brotherly countries was certainly and surely going to be further promoted, strengthened and deepened in a mutually beneficial manner much sooner than anyone would imagine, to say the least.