Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged Turkish investors on Thursday to take advantage of economic opportunities in Pakistan, speaking at a ceremony marking the 103rd anniversary of the founding of the Turkish republic at the Turkish embassy. His message was that the longstanding friendship between Pakistan and Turkiye should be translated into concrete economic activity: joint projects, investment and shared prosperity.
The prime minister said Pakistan and Turkiye must translate their longstanding friendship into joint projects, investment and shared economic prosperity. That formulation moves beyond diplomatic goodwill. Friendship between countries, in his argument, should produce tangible outcomes — projects undertaken together, money invested, and prosperity shared between the two peoples. It is a call to convert a political relationship into an economic one, with benefits that can be measured in jobs, trade and development.
A specific project was mentioned in that context. The prime minister said a special economic zone associated with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was being established in Karachi, without providing further details. A special economic zone is a designated area offering incentives and facilities to attract investment and industry, and the association of such a zone with President Erdogan gives it a symbolic link to the Turkish leadership. The absence of further details means the location within Karachi, the size of the zone, the sectors it will target and the timeline for its establishment were not specified in the prime minister’s remarks. What was clear was the direction: Karachi, as Pakistan’s commercial capital, is the chosen city for this zone, and Turkish investors are being invited to see it as an opportunity.
The prime minister also highlighted growing cooperation in politics, trade and defence. Those three areas cover the breadth of the Pakistan-Turkiye relationship: political alignment on regional and international issues, trade ties that support both economies, and defence cooperation that reflects a shared security outlook. He referred to a joint defence agreement involving Pakistan, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia as an important milestone for regional peace and stability. A trilateral defence agreement of that kind, involving three significant Muslim-majority countries, is presented as contributing to peace and stability in the region, rather than as a narrow military arrangement. The prime minister’s reference to it at a Republic Day ceremony places defence cooperation within the wider story of the relationship.
The ceremony was attended by Turkish ambassador Irfan Neziroglu, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and other officials. The presence of the Turkish ambassador as host, and of Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, underlines the official character of the occasion. Republic Day ceremonies at embassies are both celebrations and diplomatic events, bringing together host-country officials and the diplomatic community. In this case, the ceremony provided a platform for the prime minister to deliver an economic message directly to a Turkish audience, in the presence of Turkish and Pakistani officials.
Turkiye celebrates Republic Day on 29 October, marking the proclamation of the republic in 1923 under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The 103rd anniversary therefore commemorates more than a century since the founding of the modern Turkish state. The prime minister’s attendance at the embassy ceremony, and his speech there, acknowledged that milestone while also using the occasion to look forward to economic cooperation. The historical reference — 1923, Ataturk, the proclamation of the republic — anchors the ceremony in Turkish national history, while the prime minister’s remarks about investment and a Karachi economic zone point to the future of the bilateral relationship.
Taken together, Thursday’s ceremony combined celebration and solicitation. It marked 103 years of the Turkish republic, it reaffirmed a longstanding friendship, and it carried a direct appeal to Turkish investors to seize opportunities in Pakistan, with a special economic zone in Karachi held out as a concrete example. The prime minister’s message was that friendship should become joint projects, investment and shared prosperity, and that the growing cooperation in politics, trade and defence — including the trilateral defence agreement with Saudi Arabia — provides a foundation for that economic ambition. Turkish investors will now be watching for the further details of the Karachi zone that were not provided on Thursday, and for the practical steps that follow the prime minister’s invitation.
Sources: Business Recorder, 30 Oct
