President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the emerging economic power in the South Caucasus where East and West meet and that provides a gateway to Europe, is on two-day visit to Pakistan. He is great friend of Pakistan who inherits warms feelings and keenness of building brotherhood from his father, the National Leader, Heydar Aliyev who was the real constructor of bilateral relations.
Historically speaking, both countries were connected with each other centuries ago. Multani traders used to travel to Baku. Multan Sarai in old city of Baku is the memorial of their trade visits to this beautiful city of winds. Qazilbash community in Pakistan migrated from Azerbaijan and made the lands their home that later became Pakistan. The land of Koh e Qaaf is Azerbaijan. The relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan have improved rapidly during last few years with the high level bilateral visits and mutual interactions of the leaders at different international fora, especially the latest SCO at Astana in the beginning of current month. President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Pakistan is the culmination of these contacts. Both countries enjoy close , cordial and confident cooperation in almost all spheres including trade, energy and defense. Therefore the visit of President is opening a new chapter in bilateral cooperation.
Both countries are engaged in another format that has Turkiye on the board as well. It is trilateral forum Pakistan-Turkiye-Azerbaijan that held its summit at the sidelines of SCO only a few days ago in Astana Kazakhstan. Shehbaz Sharif proposed the establishment of tripartite institutional mechanisms in economic and investment areas to further strengthen cooperation among the three nations. Pak Azerbaijan relations are taking the same shape as are Pak Turkiye, two states one nation. Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov visited Islamabad on 29-30 May 2024. Both countries pledged to further improve bilateral cooperation in the areas of economy, trade, energy, connectivity, and people-to-people contacts.
President Ilham earlier visited Pakistan in April 2017 during the government of Nawaz Sharif. It was 13th ECO Summit. The heads of all member states participated in the Summit held in Islamabad. PM Shehbaz was warmly welcomed by President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on 14-15 June this year where both leaders discussed matters related to PTA , enhancing cooperation in energy, banking, IT, financial services. Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik has shared that Azerbaijan is considering an investment of $ 2 to 3 billion in Pakistan. Foreign Office is hopeful that the visit will be helpful in enhancing already growing cooperation. Minister Malik told a private news channel that Azerbaijan was particularly interested in investing in the mineral, oil and gas sectors. Here it is pertinent to recall that Azerbaijan helped Pakistan in meeting her energy requirements by exporting huge cache of Fuel Gas few years ago.
Azerbaijan is rich in petroleum and fuel gas resources. At present, when Russian energy is banned to Europe, Azerbaijan is fulfilling the needs of EU countries. In the past, during WWs, most of the oil used by Russia was generated from Azerbaijani lands. It is no doubt a big sector of cooperation because Pakistan needs energy sufficiency badly at this time and Azerbaijan has vast experience as well as the resources in this sector. According to minister Musadik, Azerbaijan was focusing on the oil and gas exploration sector and that the country was keen to expand investments in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) sector as well. President Ilham Aliyev is sincere friend of Pakistan. He waived of all duties on Pakistani rice export to his country. Azerbaijan is ready to take expert man power from Pakistan , especially in IT sector. Pakistan Azerbaijan signed action plan of 2023-24 for labor market, employment and social protection. Prime Minister Shehbaz is, as his brother Nawaz Sharif was, close friend of President Ilham. As this scribe always share with the ambassadors of Central Asia and Azerbaijan that Nawaz Sharif was the constructor of Pakistan’s good relations with these countries. This is only a short description of the vast and deep history of bilateral relations. The brotherhood does not span on decades only, it has roots in the centuries. Now, as everything is ideal between the two states, the people of both sides are looking forward how their leaders tap this huge potential into meaningful cooperation that can trickle down to the public as well for their well being. Energy sector is pivotal in this regard. People of Pakistan are bearing the highest prices of energy sources either it is petrol, fuel gas or electricity.
Tazeen Akhtar
