PM Sharif Departs for Two-Day Official Visit to Azerbaijan

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday embarked on a two-day official visit to Azerbaijan, at the invitation of President Ilham Aliyev, according to sources.

PM Sharif is accompanied by a high-level government delegation, including Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, Information and Broadcasting Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and Minister of State for Petroleum Dr. Musadik Malik.

During the visit, the Pakistani premier will meet Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and his Azerbaijani ministerial delegation in separate meetings aimed at discussing bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade and energy.

“The visit is part of our government’s policy to strengthen bilateral cooperation and build win-win partnerships with the Azerbaijan government,” the prime minister said on Twitter before his departure.

Besides finalizing the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), important talks will be held with Azerbaijani leadership to open up possible areas of cooperation in energy, banking, financial services and IT sectors between the two countries.  

Following the recent economic and energy crises that hit Pakistan the worst, the coalition government is seeking alternatives to build solid trade and investment partnerships to ease the economic pressures.

Therefore, the Central Asian Republic (CAR) remains central to Pakistan’s energy security policy as the government is committed to stepping up cooperation with CARs to ensure Pakistan’s energy-secure, the prime minister tweeted.

This comes as Pakistan is already importing liquid gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan.

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