Pakistan, Azerbaijan to enhance bilateral cooperation as Shehbaz meets Aliyev

Energy sector to remain a special focus

BAKU (Web Desk/Dunya News) – Pakistan and Azerbaijan on Thursday agreed to enhance bilateral trade and defence cooperation with a special focus on energy as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Azeri President President Ilham Aliyev held talks on different issues concerning mutual relations as well as regional and world affairs.

Later, they addressed a joint press conference during which the prime minister said Pakistan respected the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan – a clear reference to the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

He called for close collaboration between the two countries to meet the existing challenges and noted that the Russia-Ukraine war was responsible for the rise in the commodities prices in international market.

Shehbaz said Pakistan wanted to export rice to Azerbaijan and increase trade volume between the two brotherly nations.

The prime minister also noted that Islamabad aimed at promoting solar energy in the country and enhance collaboration in the energy sector with all regional countries, including Turkmenistan, as he cited the example of progress being made on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline.

Earlier, Aliyev shared the details of the negotiations and said Azerbaijan and Pakistan would increase frequency and expand the scope of joint military exercises held regularly by the two sides, vowing to work together for their respective people.

Before his departure to Baku on a two-day official visit, the prime minister in a tweet said besides expediting early finalisation of Preferential Trade Agreement, he would hold important talks with Azerbaijani leadership to open up avenues of cooperation in energy, banking, financial services and IT sectors.

Draft LNG deal

On Tuesday, State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik had told a press conference in Islamabad that a draft agreement was before the federal cabinet under which Pakistan would import one consignment of LNG per month from Azerbaijan, he revealed.

More importantly, he explained, Pakistan had the right under the proposed agreement to refuse buying any or all of the shipments, but Azerbaijan was obliged to offer the 12 monthly shipments no matter what the circumstances were at that time.

“Have you ever seen such an agreement [to the advantage of Pakistan or any other buyer],” the state minister remarked.

This clause is very significant as it will protect Pakistan from any future market volatility just like the world witnessed after the Ukraine war as the entire Europe rushed to buy LNG from Qatar and other producers.

It not only resulted in skyrocketing the prices due to a huge demand but also left nothing for the poor or developing countries to meet their energy needs.