The Prime Minister’s Office media wing has announced the good news that Azerbaijan will start sending cargo containers of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to Pakistan from next month. According to the detail, the decision was taken at a meeting held between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev at the Azeri capital Baku. The two leaders agreed that Azerbaijan would help Pakistan fulfill its energy needs through cooperation in the fields of oil and gas. Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) will collaborate at a government-to-government level to work out the energy resources. As said, one cargo on concessional rates will reach Pakistan every month.
Pakistan and Azerbaijan share an enduring diplomatic and Security relationship based on mutual benefit, and historic bonds of religion, culture, history, and identical longstanding territorial disputes with their neighboring nations. Both nations have shared friends, resembling foreign policy and security challenges, terrorism issues, and geographical and climate-related problems, and faced repercussions of decade-long Shia-Sunni polarization in the Muslim world. Both nations have had historic fraternal bilateral trade, and defense ties since the early days of the Independence of the former Soviet Muslim state in 1991. Pakistan and Azerbaijan had always supported each other viewpoints on the issues of Jammu and Kashmir and Nagarno Karabakh respectively at global forums including the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Because of Muslim brotherhood, and historic and geographical bonds, both nations have had an undying quest to transform their bilateral cooperation into a sustainable strategic partnership between their countries. The two countries aimed at enhancing their cooperation in multiple domains including trade and investment, agriculture, industry, tourism, culture and education, mining, hospitality, security, and others. Presently the volume of bilateral trade is about 800 million dollars, which is comparatively insignificant to the extent of bilateral relations of both countries. Pakistan offers a sizeable market for Azeri energy products including oil, gas, and electricity while Azerbaijan has tremendous potential as a good export destination for Pakistani agricultural and industrial quality products including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, surgical instruments, sports goods, cutlery, electrical appliances, textile & leather products, furniture, home-made crafts, food and fruits, and rice.
In the defense and security domain, both nations face serious security challenges and faced multiple aggression from their staunch enemies due to the decadeslong unresolved territorial disputes of Jammu and Kashmir and Nagarno Karabakh, which compelled them to manifest a solid defense and security partnership to enhance their defense capabilities. In that context, the two countries had already collaborated in defense production, the training of military personnel, and joint military drills under the defense agreement signed by the two nations in 2003. Meanwhile, amid heightened hostility with Armenia, Baku perceives close military ties with a nuclear-armed Pakistan as a source of strength in any future conflict with Armenia.
During Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Azerbaijan, both countries agreed to increase cooperation in defense, agriculture, trade, and transport, while Azerbaijan would invest in the alternative energy sector of Pakistan including solar power generation. Both nations will formulate a comprehensive mechanism for exemption of duty on Pakistani rice, while Azerbaijan’s national flag carrier, AZAL will operate its two flights to Islamabad and Karachi in a week. Both countries agreed to mobilize their efforts to finalize a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) by early August of 2023. A mechanism had been formed for sharing trade information, organizing events, conducting studies to identify exportable products, and promoting economic cooperation between the two friendly nations. Both nations have the unimaginable potential for bilateral diplomatic cooperation, trade and investment, and defense and security collaboration, that will equally benefit both states, their militaries, and the public, however for that end a persistent political resolve, continued efforts, businesses to businesses links and people to people contacts of utmost importance. Currently, Pakistan is actively working to establish its roads and rail links with Central Asian countries and multiple regional connectivity and energy transportation projects are in the planning or construction phases. Azerbaijan should join those regional initiatives that would not only boost Pak-Azri ties but also prove to be a game changer for greater South and Central Asian regions in the future.
