President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met in Istanbul on Saturday for wide-ranging talks aimed at strengthening what both sides describe as a long-standing strategic partnership built on political alignment, defense cooperation, and shared regional interests.
Sharif was welcomed with an official ceremony at Vahdettin Palace in Istanbul’s Üsküdar district before the two leaders moved into a closed-door bilateral session lasting about an hour. The meeting set the tone for a broader round of engagement involving senior officials from both governments.
The discussions covered trade expansion, defense industry cooperation, energy security, infrastructure investment, and digital connectivity. Both sides also reviewed regional developments, with attention on Middle East tensions, Afghanistan, counter-terrorism coordination, and broader stability concerns across neighboring regions.
The talks brought together a senior Turkish delegation, underscoring the institutional depth of the engagement.
Participants included Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, National Intelligence Organization chief İbrahim Kalın, Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, and presidential adviser Akif Çağatay Kılıç.
