Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah invited Azerbaijan's businessmen and industrialists to take initiative and invest in Sindh's alternative energy projects which offer a good scope and returns. "The Thar coal and various fissile fuel energy projects in Sindh are also promising fields for entrepreneurs," he said, addressing a reception hosted by Ambassador of Azerbaijan and Karachi Council on Foreign Relations to celebrate 25 years of Pakistan-Azerbaijan diplomatic relations at a hotel, here on Thursday.
Shah said that keeping in view the potential, trade relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan were negligible as the bilateral trade between the two countries in the last 5 years remained between $17 to $25 million. According to him, it did not correspond with the level of existing mutual political goodwill between the two nations. The Chief Minister said that he was thankful to Azerbaijan government for providing $2 million to help the victims of devastating flood-affected areas of Sindh.
"Pakistan and Azerbaijan share unique commonalities of historical, religious and political nature. After Turkey, Pakistan was the second country which recognized independence of Azerbaijan in 1991 and Pakistan was one of the first countries to open its embassy in Baku," Murad Shah said, adding that both countries had supported each other on every international forum.
He said that Azerbaijan supports Pakistan's position on Kashmir and Pakistan supports Azerbaijan's position on Nagorno-Karabakh issue. "Our relations are characterized by consistency, stability, mutual respect and trust", he said, adding that Pakistan is the land that has Mohen-jo-Daro, Taxila and Harappa civilizations while Azerbaijan, on the other hand, has a rich past that is dated back thousands of years, so much so that UNESCO has designated a number of cultural heritage sites in the Republic that included the Maiden Tower, the legendary monument of Mystery, the Aatesh Gah, Ismailiya building and various others.
The chief minister assured the Azerbaijan government and its people that they would find Sindh receptive to any projects that were to the benefit of the both countries. The Ambassador of Azerbaijan Ali Alizada spoke on existing bilateral relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan. Chairman, Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Admiral Shahid Karimullah (retd) and Secretary General Ahsan Mukhtar Zuberi also spoke on the occasion.