ISLAMABAD: Turkey has expressed willingness to start negotiations with Pakistan for the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu expressed his country’s readiness in this regard while talking to Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andleeb Abbas on the sidelines of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Council Foreign Ministers Moot.

The two sides also agreed to give practical shape at the earliest to the idea envisaged collectively by Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia to establish a television channel to promote true and positive image of Islam and counter propaganda against it.

The Turkish foreign minister hailed Pakistan’s efforts for highlighting blatant human rights in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir at the international level. He assured his country’s every possible cooperation to Pakistan in this regard.

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Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has helped Pakistan in saving 1.2 billion US dollars.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a tweet on Nov 4, had said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, with the help of President Erdogan, had amicably resolved the Karkey dispute and saved $ 1.2 billion penalty imposed by International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (a World Bank Group).

“I want to congratulate the government’s negotiating team for doing an excellent job in achieving this,” he had said.

On Oct 21, Minister for Power and Petroleum Omar Ayub Khan had invited the Turkish companies to benefit from investment opportunities in the power sector of Pakistan.

He was talking to Ambassador of Turkey to Pakistan Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul who had called on him in Islamabad.

During the meeting, it was agreed that special areas will be identified by both the countries for the upcoming visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for further enhancing cooperation in the energy sector.