Baku, February 24, AZERTAC

On February 24, the Azerbaijan-Pakistan business forum was held in Baku.

Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, addressed the forum.

The President of Azerbaijan delivered a speech first.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Mr. Prime Minister, my dear brother,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear brother, once again, welcome to Azerbaijan. I'm very glad that, within the framework of the state visit of Mr. Prime Minister, a business forum of prominent representatives of the business circles of both countries is being organized in Baku. I think it fully reflects our bilateral agenda and what we discussed with Mr. Prime Minister during our meetings today. We are very satisfied with the way bilateral political relations develop. They are actually excellent. But at the same time, we regret that trade turnover does not match the political standards and the level of political interaction. I think that the messages, which have already been given by the two leaders, and also discussions at the forum, will create a much better framework for active business contacts, mutual investments, and, of course, an increase in mutual trade. We are interested in that, and we consider that the brotherly relations between our countries should be a good platform for business circles to build their ties. One of the issues which sometimes prevents more active business-to-business contacts is the lack of information about our plans, our economic agenda, and our infrastructure projects. So, in order to fill this gap, I think these kinds of gatherings are very important. Because, during the business forum, of course, there is an exchange of information, presentations, business opportunities, legal formats of taxes, customs duties, etc.; all of which are important for businessmen to know prior to entering the market. I am sure that enough information was given about Azerbaijan’s business climate and the investments attracted by our government—both foreign and domestic— which created special opportunities in order to address issues of employment and provide necessary infrastructure for our people. Excellent political relations, of course, should definitely be reflected in the level of mutual investments.

During my state visit to Pakistan last summer, the Azerbaijani side officially announced that we are planning to invest 2 billion US dollars in Pakistan's economy. Our teams have been working on that, especially after the visit of my dear brother, the Prime Minister, last November to attend COP29. After that, we got concrete proposals, concrete projects. They are in the phase of evaluation. After our meeting this morning, I already instructed the corresponding members of our economic team to pay special attention to this. Soon, our delegation will visit Pakistan. We have agreed to determine the timeframe for our teams to come to an agreement within one month. I hope that after the Novruz holiday, which will be at the end of March, we will already have something substantial to start with.

We are interested in energy projects, in projects related to infrastructure. By the way, today our energy companies signed a number of documents, which will definitely transform into practical elements of our cooperation. Cooperation in the energy field, which today includes LNG, I'm sure will grow and will cover many other areas.

At the same time, today we have discussed opportunities in the transportation sector. Taking into account that Azerbaijan is actively promoting two important international projects across its territory - two corridors North-South and East-West. Azerbaijan is an active member on both tracks. The creation of connectivity points between us will definitely create additional opportunities. Necessary instructions have been given to members of our team responsible for the transportation sector to look at the broader picture of regional cooperation and how to establish contacts between our ports, our railroad officials, and, in general, between our transportation companies.

We also discussed today the excellent cooperation in the defense industry area. We suggested that we can start working on joint manufacturing of defense equipment. There is significant potential for that. At the same time, we know that Pakistan has a very developed pharmaceutical industry. According to the information I was given, more than 90 items of the Pakistani pharmaceutical industry have been registered in Azerbaijan. Our suggestion is also to review the opportunities for joint manufacturing of pharmaceutical products in Azerbaijan.

In many other areas, we really see great potential. The basis for that is the brotherly relationship between our countries and the mutual political will to bring economic and business contacts to the level of political contacts.

Once again, my dear brother, thank you for paying a visit to Azerbaijan. Thank you for being accompanied by a big group of prominent businessmen from Pakistan. I'm sure you all feel at home, the same way we feel when we visit your beautiful country. We wish you success, and also we will control with my brother all our instructions. By April, we will be expecting practical results and documents ready for signature.

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Then, the Prime Minister of Pakistan made a speech.

Speech by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif

- Thank you very much. My very dear brother, Excellency Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Honorable ministers from Azerbaijan and Pakistan, government officials, and, of course, very renowned and prominent businessmen from Azerbaijan and Pakistan.

Ladies and gentlemen, and a very good afternoon.

As my dear brother, President Ilham Aliyev, has very ably explained our wonderful relations, which exist between our two brotherly countries. I am short of words to add to what he has said in beautiful words. But let me say, this relationship has been built through sincerity, through honesty of purpose, through trust, and mutual respect between the two leaderships spanning over decades and, of course, love and affection for the peoples of Pakistan and Azerbaijan. My dear brother, President Ilham Aliyev, has great love and fondness for the people of Pakistan. I always try to match his commitment, but, of course, he is ahead of me in this field, and that is the foundation of this wonderful and beautiful relationship.

Today, we have achieved another milestone. We had a wonderful one-on-one meeting today followed by a delegation-level meeting. We discussed everything under the sun, even when there is no sun under the roof, and, of course, agreed on a very clear-cut way forward. I am very happy to disclose this at the August assembly of prominent brothers and sisters from both Pakistan and Azerbaijan that we are going to enhance our bilateral trade, which is just $14 million and hardly reflects the strength of our relationship, to $2 billion as soon as we can. This is not just rhetoric. I can mention here that the Basmati rice from Pakistan, its export, import duty, has been very generously exempted by my dear brother, and this is how we can really move forward on certain items from Azerbaijan. We must focus on the areas where we can lower these tariffs so that our import and export can really enhance and increase. Our Minister of Commerce is sitting here.

Of course, LNG is another trading commodity, which can be added into our trading pool. I won't discuss defense equipment, of course, but JF-17 jet fighters are another high-ticket item, which Pakistan and Azerbaijan are very actively pursuing. I can say without any fear of contradiction, ladies and gentlemen, my dear brothers and sisters, that if we really put our acts together, we can achieve $2 billion worth of trade between our two great countries.

A very good news has just been disclosed and my dear brother, President Ilham Aliyev mentioned it. The $2 billion investment announcement was made during his last visit to Pakistan. We have today agreed that a lot of great work has been done by both teams, and I really commend their hard efforts and deeply appreciate them. Whatever small little gaps are there, they have fixed one month to crystallize everything, and in April, I will be, and we will be, rather, receiving our brother in Islamabad again to sign these agreements for the $2 billion investment in Pakistan.

For this, I must say, my brother, I'm extremely thankful to you, deeply appreciate your gesture, and, of course, this is going to be a mutually beneficial arrangement. Both countries will benefit. Making this commitment is a great gesture. We must remember this wonderful contribution from your side, and we will remember it for all time to come. I must thank Azerbaijan's team, the wonderful team sitting here, and the great Pakistani team sitting here. I think this is how the waters of the Arabian Sea are meeting with the waters of the Caspian Sea. This love and affection, this vigor, this enormous energy and synergy, is going to really transform our great fraternal relations into unprecedented trade and investment portfolios and commitments.

One thing, which, Excellency, you have mentioned - and mentioned rightly - is the lack of information between the two business communities. What Azerbaijan has to offer to Pakistan in real terms, and what Pakistan has to offer to our Azerbaijani business community: tariffs, our strength in agriculture, industry, IT, and so on and so forth. So, today I want to announce, with your permission, that we will constitute a permanent Information Bureau, I mean, comprising both countries, which will have the most modern gadgetry, equipped with IT and, of course, also AI, relaying real-time information in both ways and this will be extremely helpful. I think this mechanism should be put in place from our side. Our other honorable members of the team, and, of course, whoever you, my brother, appoints from your team, and this team should then work out a very robust mechanism so that this alone will step up our efforts in a very big way.

Secondly, our defense cooperation has been there already for ages. I think now is the time to look into, discuss, and decide to have a joint defense manufacturing facility shared between Pakistan and Azerbaijan. I think when this delegation visits Pakistan in April, this will be one of the main items on the agenda for discussion over there. When you visit Pakistan, my brother, we can also sign this agreement in April this year. Then, of course, the North-South Corridor - unless we have an efficient, reliable, and cost-effective transportation system and connectivity, I don't think we will be able to achieve our targets in time to come. I think we had a very good discussion today during our bilateral meeting, and we will be fully supporting our vision in this regard. I can assure you that Gwadar Port can play a very pivotal role in promoting our trade, inward and upward, and I think, let us focus on this. I think this will be a game changer. I want to assure you, my dear brother, that I will work very closely with you on this very important project.

I am very happy to announce that the Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce has been established in Islamabad, which will really facilitate our bilateral trade. I think this is what we should also be doing - having a Pakistan Chamber of Commerce here in Baku and satellites in other important cities in Azerbaijan so that these chambers can really, in real time, collect information, exchange this information, and pass it on to potential traders and investors, which will be very helpful.

I will not take more time, my dear brother. Once again, I would like to thank you very much for your great commitment towards our friendship between the two countries. I want to say this in all humility but with total certainty at my command that I will try to match your favor, your commitment to really strengthen these relations in the time to come. The trilateral understanding between Azerbaijan, Türkiye, and Pakistan should be quadrupled, and we will be talking on this subject in the time to come, In Sha Allah. I think there are enormous opportunities on both sides, and the only thing needed is to put the will to do it into action. Long Live Azerbaijan-Pakistani friendship!

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President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you very much, my dear brother. We have a small presentation, just for about 10 minutes maximum. When I was visiting the brotherly country last summer, we discussed how Azerbaijan could participate in the plans of Mr. Prime Minister to modernize and restore some historical sites in Pakistan. Since that time, our team has been working on that and has prepared, in agreement with the Pakistani side, a vision for it. I think it will be interesting for everyone to see what is being offered. It will also be a small part, but an important part, of our brotherly relations.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif: You know, the submission would not be complete and it would remain incomplete if I did not mention the expert team that my brother sent to Islamabad. Islamabad, as you all know, is a beautiful city, sitting at the foot of the mountains. But he has sent great experts who are doing a wonderful job in improving our landscape - both hard and soft landscaping and greenery. Thank you very much. I think this will add to the beauty of Islamabad. I don't think it will match the beauty of Baku, but with your team, it will start competing. Thank you very much.

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Then, the General Director of "Baku Abadlig Khidmeti" LLC, Bunyad Gasimov, provided information about the renovation and restoration projects carried out by his organization in the capital of Pakistan. He noted that one of the projects implemented by " Baku Abadlig Khidmeti" in Islamabad has been completed, while work on three other projects is still ongoing.