Turkish Forum

Tag: Topbas

  • Punjab signs two accords with Turkish firms

    Punjab signs two accords with Turkish firms

    LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that Pakistani and Turk investors should benefit from the best opportunities of investment available in the province.

    He was speaking on the occasion of signing of two agreements between Turk companies Al-Bayrak, Ozkartallar Compak and Lahore Transport Company here on Tuesday. Ahmet Al-Bayrak of Al-Bayrak Company and Muhibi Kartel and Abdul Qadir Turan of Ozkartallar Compak and Khawaja Ahmad Hasaan Chairman Lahore Transport Company singed the agreements. Mayor Istanbul Dr Kadir Topbas was also present.

    Shahbaz congratulated the Istanbul mayor and his delegation as well as Pakistani and Turk business community. He expressed confidence in the Turk companies and said that they were associated with more than 100 institutions of Turkey and it was hoped that Pakistani business community would benefit from the opportunities of mutual cooperation and joint ventures and play their role for making the Punjab a role model for other provinces. Mayor Instanbul Dr. Kadir Topbas also spoke.

    Talking to a Turk delegation, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said implementation of joint ventures between the Punjab and Istanbul would promote trade and economic cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey. He said that the recent visit of Mayor Istanbul Kadir Topbas to Lahore would open up new avenues of bilateral cooperation and relationship between the two countries.

    He said the Daanish Technical University would be established in the provincial metropolis with the cooperation of Turkey. He said that cooperation of Turkey would also be acquired for the construction of parking plazas and training programmes of the Punjab Police.

    Those who met the chief minister included Osman Askin, Chairman Albayrak Company Ahmet Albayrak, Haybaraccli, Qadir Noran and others. The Turkish print and electronic media has given extensive coverage to the visit of Mayor Istanbul to Lahore and shown keen interest in the engagements of the Turk delegation during the last two days.

    The Turk media described the Punjab CM as a dynamic personality with reference to the important agreements signed with Turkey for various projects and observed that he was actively engaged in the development of the province and socio-economic uplift of the masses. The representatives of the Turk media before their departure for Turkey described the rousing welcome extended to them as memorable and said that it showed the wide popularity of Punjab CM and his team among the people. The Turk media paid growing tributes to the hospitality of Lahorites also.

    via Punjab signs two accords with Turkish firms – The News.

  • Istanbul mayor gives 100 buses for Lahore

    Istanbul mayor gives 100 buses for Lahore

    The visiting mayor drove a bus on the special bus-only lane built down the middle of Ferozepur Road. He was accompanied by Shahbaz Sharif.

    LAHORE:

    Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbas announced a gift of 100 buses and inaugurated the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system on Ferozepur Road on Monday, the second and final day of his visit to the provincial metropolis.

    Topbas also laid the foundation stone for the girls campus of Pak-Turk International Schools and Colleges on Raiwind Road; inaugurated a monument in his name near Valencia Town on Raiwind Road; visited Mazar-i-Iqbal and Badshahi Masjid; and was conferred an honorary doctorate at Government College University.

    After inaugurating the BRT, the visiting mayor drove a bus on the special bus-only lane built down the middle of Ferozepur Road from the Naseerabad bus station to Gulab Devi Hospital. He was accompanied by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, as he was a day earlier when driving a cleaning truck after inaugurating a new waste management system, as well as members of his delegation.

    Speaking at the inauguration, Sharif said that the first phase of the bus project from Kahna to Kalma Chowk would be completed in April while the second phase for another 30 kilometres of bus corridor would be finished in December.

    He said that the new bus service would give Lahore public transport of an international standard. He said that the project would be particularly useful to the disabled, senior citizens and women. He said that highly trained staff would operate the bus service and ticketing would be completely automated. He thanked Turkey for assisting the Punjab government with the solid waste management and bus projects.

    At an earlier luncheon hosted by the chief minister, Topbas announced a gift of 100 buses for Lahore and pledged Turkish help to the Punjab government in any sector. The chief minister thanked the mayor for the buses and called Turkey a role model for Pakistan.

    At the school foundation stone ceremony, the chairman of Pak-Turk International Schools and Colleges said that the new girls campus would have the capacity for 900 students. He said that the foundation was educating more than 5,000 children in 18 schools in Pakistan. He thanked the chief minister for providing land for the campus.

    Topbas also inaugurated the renamed Kadir Topbas Chowk on Raiwind Road near Valencia Town, where a 40-feet tall replica of Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque is being built. The monument is being renamed after the mayor in view of his active role in promoting Pak-Turk ties.

    Earlier, the mayor and his wife Ozleyis Topbas and their entourage visited historical sites in Lahore. They laid a wreath at the tomb of Allama Iqbal and a Rangers contingent presented them a guard of honour. They also visited the Badshahi Masjid.

    Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2012.

    via Pak-Turk friendship: Istanbul mayor gives 100 buses for Lahore – The Express Tribune.

  • Istanbul mayor arrives to warm welcome

    Istanbul mayor arrives to warm welcome

    Inaugurates new waste management system, hails Lahore as second home.

    LAHORE:

    The Mayor of Istanbul Dr Kadir Tobpas was given a warm welcome here on Sunday as he arrived for a two-day visit to inaugurate waste management and bus transport projects that are being conducted in collaboration with Turkish companies.

    Addressing the inauguration ceremony for the new solid waste management system at the Town Hall, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that he hoped that the new system would revive Lahore’s beauty and that it could later be introduced in other cities

    He said that the same model would be replicated in Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Peshawar and Karachi and scores of clean cities like Istanbul would emerge in Pakistan.

    Dr Tobpas said that the project would give Lahore a clean environment and a healthy atmosphere. He said that the projects with the Punjab government were not commercial ventures but aimed at serving the Pakistani people. That was why the Turkish companies had reduced the cost of the project, he said.

    He said that Istanbul produces 15,000 tonnes of garbage a day which it recycles or uses to produce electricity. He said that Istanbul was cleaner than New York.

    Dr Tophas drove a cleaning truck, with the chief minister in the passenger seat, after cutting a ribbon to inaugurate the project. He earlier also inaugurated a monument at Istanbul Chowk in front of Town Hall, and is to inaugurate the Bus Rapid Transit system as well as a replica of the Blue Mosque dome in Valencia Town.

    The chief minister said that this was the first comprehensive solid waste management project in Pakistan. He said Lahore produced more than 5,000 tonnes of garbage every day.

    Sharif said that during his first term as chief minister in 1998, he had made plans with a French company for a solid waste management system, but his government was toppled and the project was shelved.

    He said that he was pleased to see this project inaugurated 13 years later with the cooperation of the brotherly Islamic country of Turkey. He said that Pakistan and Turkey had forged strong bonds and that was why the Turkish companies involved in the project had reduced their costs. He said that when they had conducted a survey in Lahore 18 months ago of the facilities needed, they had charged the government a tenth of what they would normally charge on international tenders.

    Earlier, the Istanbul mayor was welcomed upon his arrival at the airport by the chief minister. Sharif said that the visit would promote trade as well as brotherly relations between the two countries. Dr Topbas said Pakistan was his second home and he was very pleased to be in Lahore.

    A Punjab Police contingent presented a guard of honour to Dr Topbas at the airport. The national anthems of Turkey and Pakistan were played while people shouted slogans for Pak-Turk friendship. The government brought in 225 folk dancers from Jhang to perform at 14 different points along the route.

    Portraits of the president and prime minister of Turkey, the mayor of Istanbul, Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif were displayed on main roads all over the city.

    The mayor also visited a special exhibition on Turkey arranged by the Information and Culture Departments at the Lahore Museum. Members of the Turkish media in his entourage went on a shopping trip to Neela Gumbad and Anarkali.

    Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2012.

    via Diplomatic relations: Istanbul mayor arrives to warm welcome – The Express Tribune.

  • Istanbul mayor to attend UCLG meeting in Rabat

    Istanbul mayor to attend UCLG meeting in Rabat

    14148Topbas will sign a memorandum of understanding to renew the sister city protocol signed between Istanbul and Rabat in 1991.

    Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Kadir Topbas will attend a meeting of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) in Rabat, Morocco, on June 22 and 23.

    Topbas will make opening remarks of the meeting.

    Meanwhile, Topbas will sign a memorandum of understanding to renew the sister city protocol signed between Istanbul and Rabat in 1991.

    Founded in 2004, UCLG is is the largest local government organization in the world. Its headquarters is based in Barcelona, Spain. Over 1,000 cities are direct members of UCLG, as well as 112 national associations which represent all the cities and local governments in their respective countries.

    Members vary, from small cities to national local governments associations and regional associations. Topbas has been the the president of the organization since November 2010.

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  • Mayor Topbas Meets UN Secretary General

    Mayor Topbas Meets UN Secretary General

    Turkey’s Istanbul city’s metropolitan mayor Kadir Topbas met United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York on Monday.

    Holding a press conference after the meeting, Topbas said that he offered to organize a conference about the role of cities in the development of countries, and Ban was positive about the offer.

    Topbas, who is also the head of United Cities & Local Governments (UCLG), said that he had held meetings with Ban for three times since February 10, and the meetings had been very positive.

    We have exchanged views with Ban about the importance of local administrations in implementing UN Millennium Development Goals, said Topbas.

    I also conveyed Ban the importance UCLG attaches in the development of world as well as the local diplomacy among cities, and also the determination to work with UN in this issue, added Topbas.

    He said that Ban would extend support to UCLG in this issue.

    Ban was also positive towards our demand to set up a central regional organization of the UN in Istanbul, said Topbas.

    Topbas said that he would proceed to Rabat on Tuesday and attend UCLG meeting, and tell about their efforts to make local administrations more active.

    via Mayor Topbas Meets UN Secretary General, 21 June 2011 Tuesday 9:28.

  • Istanbul mayor: Tehran is a modern city

    Istanbul mayor: Tehran is a modern city

    ISTANBUL – Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf and Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbas discussed ways to expand mutual ties in Istanbul on Friday, IRNA reported.

    02 MAYORCalling Tehran a “modern city rapidly changing”, Topbas said “one should congratulate Tehran mayor for his activities because Tehran has over recent years been turned into a modern city and is changing further day by day.”

    He said he believed Iran and Turkey share common feelings, which have guaranteed closer ties.

    Qalibaf also described as “helpful” proximity and cooperation between Tehran and Istanbul municipalities, saying it would benefit both Iranian and Turkish nations.

    Addressing a group of Iranian and Turk traders and investors, Qalibaf said construction, transportation, and garbage recycling are the areas in which the investors can invest in Tehran.

    He said expansion of economic and cultural relations among nations would provide good backing for expansion of bilateral political relations.

    He added that Turk entrepreneurs can invest their capital in such projects as hotel, international fairground, funfair, chain store and public transportation building and renovation fields.

    He said any decision on commissioning of the projects will take maximum two months.

    He invited Turk investors to pay an official three-day visit to Tehran to look into ways of investment there.

    The Second Asian Mayors Forum, that was underway in Istanbul from March 31 to April 3, focuses on impacts of the global financial downturn on Asian cities.

    The theme of the meeting is the “The Impact of Global Financial Crisis on Asian Cities and Solution Proposals.”

    The meeting seeks to promote an Asian perspective on shared challenges and opportunities and stimulate ideas and discussions on networking among Asian cities as a step towards further regional integration in the interest of all citizens in Asia.

    Kadir Topbas Mohammad Khodadadi, the director of Asian Mayors Forum (AMF), as well as 300 domestic and international participants participated in the Second Asian Mayors Forum (AMF) on behalf of 112 cities and institutions.

    The Forum was the result of collaboration among the Asian Development Bank Institute, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Colombo Municipal Council, Colombo Plan Secretariat, German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Regional Urban Development Office South Asia of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S.-Asia Environmental Partnership Program, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)/United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) Urban Management Program.

    via tehran times : Istanbul mayor: Tehran is a modern city.