Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijan-Pakistan partnership is one of the steadfast ties in the world, one that continues growing even stronger year on year despite significant changes on he global political platforms.

The Azerbaijan-Pakistan “all-weather friendship" covers various facets of the economic and political ties. Pakistan’s Premier Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is paying an official visit to Baku "to enhance this friendship and strategic ties and translate the friendly bilateral relations into strong economic partnership".

Pakistan is one of the closest friends of Azerbaijan, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev as he welcomed the Pakistani PM in Baku on October 14.

The Pakistani prime minister’s official visit to Azerbaijan shows that a very close cooperation continues between the two countries, added President Aliyev.

Further noting that Azerbaijan and Pakistan intend to develop their relations in various spheres, President Aliyev said the two countries have very close political ties.

The Azerbaijani president said he and the Pakistani PM had discussions on the high-level political cooperation between the two countries.

He noted that Azerbaijan and Pakistan should develop their cooperation in economy and investments, boost their trade turnover, pay great attention to humanitarian issues and have a very broad and effective cooperation.

President Aliyev further said the two countries support each other on all international issues.

He noted that Azerbaijan always supports Pakistan in the issues related to Kashmir, and Pakistan, for its part, always supports Azerbaijan in the issues related to the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He noted that Nawaz Sharif’s visit gives a good opportunity to review the work done and to set the future plans.

Nawaz Sharif, in turn, thanked President Aliyev and said it is great honor for him to visit Azerbaijan.

Baku has become a beautiful city in the past 10-15 years, said the Pakistani PM, adding that it is amazing that such a progress was achieved in less than 15 years.

Nawaz Sharif also recalled his visit to Azerbaijan in 1998 and expressed his gratitude to the Azerbaijani president for the warm reception.

He also congratulated the president and the people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of Azerbaijan’s Independence Day.

The PM noted that the people of Pakistan appreciate the foresight of Azerbaijan’s late president Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan's progress, development, and President Ilham Aliyev’s wise leadership.

Azerbaijan has achieved remarkable progress in the last 25 years, he added.

He also said Azerbaijan’s development and success are a source of pride for all the Muslim countries and is an example for many developing countries.

Pakistan became the second country after Turkey which recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991. The diplomatic relations between two countries were established on June 9, 1992.

Islamabad backed Azerbaijan during and after the Nagorno-Karabakh War and it is the only country that does not recognize Armenia. Pakistan also adopted a resolution strongly condemning the genocide against the civilian population of Khojaly, which was committed by Armenian armed forces.

Although the countries enjoy very close friendly relations at a diplomatic level, these close ties have not been translated into significant commercial gains.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Pakistan amounted to $1.8 million in the first quarter of 2016, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz