Islamabad: At the invitation of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev paid a state visit to Pakistan from 11-12 July 2024. The President’s delegation included Ministers for Defence, Defence Industry, Economy, Digital Development and Transport, and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
President Aliyev was received by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and accorded a warm welcome. A guard of honour was presented to him on arrival at the Prime Minister’s House. The President of Azerbaijan laid a wreath at the National Monument. President Aliyev held meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif. The two sides discussed all areas of mutual interest and bilateral cooperation and expressed a desire to further strengthen bilateral cooperation across the entire range of bilateral relations. Prime Minister Sharif and President Aliyev reaffirmed the strategic partnership between Pakistan and Azerbaijan. They expressed satisfaction at the close security and defence cooperation between the two countries and termed the Trilateral Summit Level mechanism among Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Türkiye as the dawn of a new era in relations between the three countries. The two sides also agreed to further enhance bilateral trade and investment and to develop joint investment projects in the areas of energy, infrastructure, connectivity and defence industry. The Prime Minister stated that following the conclusion of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and Transit Trade Agreement (TTA), among other agreements and protocols, the two countries had shown their intent to boost bilateral trade at a rapid pace. The leaders expressed satisfaction at the level of cooperation between the two countries at multilateral fora, especially the United Nations and OIC. President Aliyev reaffirmed Azerbaijan’s principled stance on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people as enshrined in relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and President Ilham Aliyev witnessed the signing ceremony of agreements and MOUs between the two sides. Fifteen agreements and MOUs of cooperation were signed in the fields of consular affairs, privatization, transit and preferential trade, legal collaboration, mineral resources, cultural exchange and literature, information and communication technology, broadcasting, scientific and technical cooperation, tourism, air services, city twinning and small and medium enterprise development.