Pakistan, Turkey ink 10 accords of cooperation

• SBP, MASAK to exchange financial intelligence to stop money laundering, terror financing

Pakistan and Turkey on Thursday entered into 10 accords of cooperation in diverse areas including hydrocarbon and solar energy, and financial intelligence related to terrorism financing.

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and his Turkish counterpart Binali Yildrim witnessed the signing ceremony and also inked a joint statement after co-chairing the fifth meeting of the High Level Strategic Cooperation Council (HLSCC). The agreement on cooperation in field of hydrocarbons was signed by Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of environment was signed by Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi and Turk Deputy Minister for Environment and Urbanization Mehmet Ceylan. The MoU between Financial Monitoring Unit of Pakistan and Financial Intelligence Unit of Turkey concerning the exchange of financial intelligence related to money laundering and terrorism financing was inked by State Bank of Pakistan deputy governor Saeed Ahhmed and Osman Dereli, head of MASAK, the financial crimes investigation board.

The news cooperation agreement between the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) and the Anadolu Agency (AA) was inked by Executive Director Sohail Ali Khan and Senol Kazanci. The cooperation agreement in the field of forestry was signed by Ambassador to Turkey Sohail Mahmood and Turkey’s Acting Director General for Forestry Ahmet Ipek.

The protocol on exchange of personnel of armed forces of Pakistan and Turkey was signed by Ambassador Sohail Mahmood and Turkey’s Chief of Planning and Policy Division Yavuz Turkgenci. The technical implementation agreement on providing drug analysis services was inked by Ambassador Sohail Mahmood and Prof Dr Eyup Gumus of Turkey’s Health Ministry.

An MoU was signed between Pakistan’s Department of Libraries, Capital Administration & Development Division and the National Library of Turkey by Ambassador Sohail Mahmood and Zulfi Toman, president of the National Library. A project of 300 megawatts solar power was also signed between the Punjab government and M/s Zorlu Holdings.

Prime Minister Nawaz expressed satisfaction that the friendship of Pakistan and Turkey friendship was flourishing with time and the two countries had excellent cooperation in education, energy, culture and defence. He hoped that the agreements and the memorandums signed today would further contribute to strengthening of relations between Pakistan and Turkey.