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Shehbaz Meets Erdogan in TurkiyePakistan
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held wide-ranging talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Antalya on the sidelines of the COP31 climate summit.
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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has held a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Antalya, on the sidelines of the COP31 climate summit, where the two leaders reviewed the state of relations between Pakistan and Turkiye and discussed the situation in the wider region.
The prime minister is in the Turkish resort city for the annual United Nations climate conference, which Turkiye is chairing this year and which has drawn leaders and delegates from nearly 200 countries. On his arrival at the venue, he was received by President Erdogan and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and later joined fellow leaders for a group photograph.
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According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the two leaders reaffirmed the deep-rooted and brotherly ties between their countries and expressed satisfaction at the positive direction of the relationship. Their talks covered ways to deepen cooperation in trade and investment, defence, energy and connectivity.
Regional peace also featured prominently. The prime minister briefed the Turkish president on Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in the Middle East, and Erdogan appreciated the role Pakistan played in the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding in June. Shehbaz Sharif thanked the Turkish leader for his steady support and close coordination throughout that effort.
The prime minister also used his time at the summit to press Pakistan’s climate case. Addressing a high-level dialogue on clean energy, he spoke of the rapid growth of solar power in Pakistan, describing it as a change driven by ordinary citizens. He called for grant-based climate finance and stronger funds for adaptation and resilience, arguing that countries hit hardest by climate disasters should not be pushed deeper into debt to recover from them.
Shehbaz Sharif thanked Turkiye for the help it extended to Pakistan during the devastating floods of 2010 and 2022, and praised President Erdogan’s address at the summit, including his remarks on the suffering in Gaza, which the prime minister described as among the most moving moments of the gathering.
President Erdogan hosted a luncheon meeting for the prime minister despite a packed summit schedule, a gesture Shehbaz Sharif said reflected the Turkish leader’s friendship and generosity. “Pakistan and Turkiye are bound by an enduring brotherhood. We will stand together, always,” the prime minister said after the meeting.
On the sidelines of the summit, the prime minister also met a string of other leaders and senior figures, including the prime ministers of Bangladesh and Palestine, the president of Syria, Saudi ministers, the head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the president of the World Bank and Turkiye’s First Lady, Emine Erdogan.
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