Pakistan, Azerbaijan discuss $2bn investment boost in mutually beneficial projects

Pakistan and Azerbaijan have discussed to enhance investments worth $2 billion in areas of mutually beneficial projects.

Addressing a joint press stake-out in Islamabad on Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said teams of the two countries would further exchange views on the matter on Friday and hopefully both sides would be ready to ink an agreement during his upcoming visit to Azerbaijan, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

According to details, PM Shehbaz said Pakistan and Azerbaijan have immense investment potential worth billions of dollars in years to come. He said the two countries agreed to enhance bilateral trade as well.

The prime minister said Pakistan always supported Azerbaijan’s stand on Nagorno-Karabakh, while the latter extended similar support for the cause of Kashmir.

PM Shehbaz also conveyed his best wishes to the Azerbaijan president and its people as the country is prepared to host the COP29 in Baku.

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Speaking on the occasion, the Azeri president said his country looked forward to building a strong partnership with Pakistan at the economic and trade levels.

Expressing satisfaction over the existing level of political ties between the two countries, he said the bilateral trade volume would be increased.

The Azeri president said they had identified nine initial priority areas for preferential trade.

“We have discussed several projects in areas of energy infrastructure and defence industry,” he said.

Referring to Shehbaz Sharif’s last year visit to Azerbaijan, lham Aliyev said the visit was a breakthrough and the two countries always supported and cooperated with each other.

“We now engage in practical elements of cooperation like trade, energy, investment and corridors of transportation,” he said.

Pakistan, Azerbaijan ink 15 MoUs

Pakistan and Azerbaijan signed 15 agreements and memorandum of understanding (MoUs) for cooperation in diverse fields, according to Radio Pakistan.

The agreements and MoUs were exchanged at a ceremony in Islamabad on Thursday, witnessed by PM Shehbaz and President Ilham Aliyev.

The MoUs include consular affairs, transit trade, preferential trade, privatisation 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, and literature and science.

The Azeri president arrived in Pakistan on Thursday on a two-day official visit.

The president was received by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“The two sides will engage in wide-ranging discussions on areas of mutual interest in order to further strengthen bilateral cooperation. Several agreements and MoUs are expected to be signed during the visit,” the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement earlier.

It added that the visit of the president of Azerbaijan reflected the robust cooperation and leadership-level dialogue between the two countries.

On Wednesday, Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik said that Azerbaijan was considering an investment of $2 to $3 billion in Pakistan.

Speaking to a private news channel, he said that Azerbaijan was particularly interested in the mineral sector, including oil and gas.

The minister said that Azerbaijan was focusing on the oil and gas exploration sector, noting their keen interest in expanding investments in the LNG sector as well.

Last week, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Samir Sharifov arrived in Pakistan and held meetings with different ministers including Energy (Power and Petroleum) ministers, and called on Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan.

On May 30, the foreign ministers of the two countries expressed strong commitment and resolve further to strengthen bilateral strategic relations between the two countries.

In a statement on X, the Foreign Office (FO) said that the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov met Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad.

“They reviewed progress on bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and global developments,” the FO had said.