Turkey to provide Cobra spare parts free of cost
* President says FoDP was introduced because Pakistan needs trade instead of aid
* Lauds Turkish support on the Kashmir dispute
ISLAMABAD: The prime minister of Turkey assured President Asif Ali Zardari that his country would provide Pakistan with the spare parts of Cobra helicopters free of cost, underlining the growing cooperation between the two countries in different fields.
Speaking to Zardari, who called on him on Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the international community to help Pakistan and Afghanistan overcome problems of the region, saying the Turkish-inspired Trilateral Summit could serve as a useful model in this behalf.
“Pakistan today is facing challenges arising from the conflict in the region and it is incumbent upon the international community to step forward and help both the countries in tackling these challenges”, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Malik Amad Khan, quoted the president as saying in a briefing to the media after the meeting.
“The challenges we face in Pakistan today are of global magnitude and we need regional as well as international support to tackle these challenges,” the president said.
Zardari said the conflict in Afghanistan had spread terrorism across its borders and countries of the region required active cooperation from all the nations and states of the Western world to root out these problems.
The president emphasised that Pakistan at this stage needed trade, and not aid, from the countries concerned to come out of its present difficulties. “For this purpose, we have introduced the concept of Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) so that Pakistan could have more access to international markets.”
President Zardari said he was visiting Turkey for the fourth time in the last 18 months because the two countries enjoyed close relations and he wanted to further consolidate these ties as the head of a democratic state.
Welcoming the Trilateral Summit being held on Monday between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey, President Zardari said that the summit gave the opportunity to his country to “draw attention of the world to our case and to send a message to the people of the world that we want to curb terrorism, but to do that we need to empower ourselves by getting access to global markets.”
The president said the proposed Islamabad-Istanbul-Tehran rail project would also greatly facilitate expansion in trade volume not only between the two countries but also among other countries of the region. He sought public-private partnership for this project.
He lauded Turkey’s support to Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, contribution in providing aid to the effectees of the 2005 earthquake and its offer to build a football stadium in Muzaffarabad.
Prime Minister Erdogan promised that Turkey would soon deliver ‘free of cost’ spare parts to Pakistan under the agreement already signed. Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, Minister of State for Foreign
Affairs Malik Amad Khan, Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, the Foreign Affairs secretary and the Railways secretary were members of the President’s delegation.
The Turkish PM said business communities of the two countries should also get together in commerce and trade activities.
During the meeting, the two sides pledged to soon introduce visa-free travel between the two countries while Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar informed the prime minister that Pakistan was looking into the possibility of more Turkish Airlines flights to Islamabad and other cities.
Erdogan said the Turkish deputy PM would also attend the coming FODP conference in Dubai.
“We need a joint international struggle against terrorism and hence fourth the trilateral summit is being hosted here to take positive steps against the threat of terrorism and the entire Turkish nation will do anything to curb terrorism”.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Abdullah Gul hosted a dinner in honour
of President Zardari and Afghan President Karzai at the historic Sait Halim Pasa Palace.
Earlier, President Asif Ali Zardari was accorded a warm welcome when he landed at the Ataturk International Airport here on Sunday to begin a four-day visit of Turkey to attend two back-to-back international summit meetings. Governor of Istanbul Muamar Guler and Mayor Kadir Topbas received the president at the airport. app
Turkey to provide Cobra spare parts free of cost
Re: Turkey to provide Cobra spare parts free of cost
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