Pakistan and Azerbaijan have signed 15 agreements and Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) for cooperation in diverse fields during the two-day visit of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev to Islamabad.
The documents were exchanged at a ceremony in witnessed by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and President Aliyev, a press release by the prime minister’s office said on Thursday.
The areas include Consular Affairs, transit trade, preferential trade, privatization of state property, law and justice, mineral resources and geology, culture exchange program, cooperation in information technology and telecommunication, television production, scientific and technical cooperation, tourism, air services, establishment of twin cities of Baku and Islamabad, small and medium enterprises, literature and science.
Addressing a joint press stake-out with the Azerbaijani leader, the Prime Minister Sharif said that Pakistan and Azerbaijan have discussed enhancing investments worth USD 2 billion in areas of mutually beneficial
projects.
Sharif said that teams of both the countries will further exchange views on this matter and hopefully both the countries will be ready to ink an agreement during his upcoming visit to Azerbaijan. He said Pakistan and Azerbaijan have immense investment potential worth billions of dollars in years to come, adding that the two countries have agreed to enhance bilateral trade as well.
“Pakistan has always supported Azerbaijan’s stand on Nagorno-Karabakh, while the latter has extended similar support for the cause of Kashmiris, who have paid huge sacrifices to achieve their right of self-determination as per UN Security Council resolutions,” the Prime Minister went on.
He conveyed his best wishes to the Azerbaijan President and its people as the country is prepared to host the COP29 in Baku. He said that it will be a significant international event for all developing countries, including Pakistan. “We are quite confident that under your leadership COP29 will deliver on the Climate Change related issue
s of developing countries like Pakistan,” the prime minister added.
Speaking on the occasion, the Azeri President said his country looks forward to building a strong partnership with Pakistan at economic and trade level. Expressing satisfaction over the existing level of political ties between the two countries, he said we will increase our bilateral trade volume. The Azeri President said we have identified nine initial priority areas for preferential trade. He said we have discussed several projects in areas of energy infrastructure and defense industry. Referring to Shehbaz Sharif’s last year visit to Azerbaijan, the President said the visit was a breakthrough and the two countries have always supported and cooperated with each other. He said we now engage in practical elements of cooperation like trade, energy, investment and corridors of transportation. Earlier in the day, the two sides will engage in wide-ranging discussions on areas of mutual interest to further strengthen bilateral cooperation.
Sour
ce: Kuwait News Agency