Islamabad, July 11, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev held an expanded meeting with Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad.

Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said at the meeting:

- My very dear brother, President Aliyev and honorable members of your delegation. Let me once again welcome you and your delegation from the bottom of my heart on behalf of the Government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan. It is a great pleasure and honor to welcome you and to meet you once again after the meeting in Astana.

I am very grateful to you for accepting this invitation, which I conveyed to you during our telephone conversation and exchanged greetings. And you have been so generous that you accepted my invitation, within no time, fixed these dates. I wanted to show you that the people of Pakistan are very happy today to have seen your glimpses on television and social media. They know that my dear brother, President Aliyev is a very staunch supporter of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan. And the people of Azerbaijan love the people of Pakistan, and vice versa, the people of Pakistan have very great appreciation and love for the people of Azerbaijan. So it is like one soul and two hearts. And this friendship, this brotherhood is not new. It has spanned for over decades. And Pakistan has always stood by Azerbaijan no matter what, and Azerbaijan has always stood by Pakistan under all circumstances be it support to people of Kashmir for their due rights enshrined under UN Security Council resolutions and, of course, commitment by world at large for their right to have a plebiscite. And Pakistan has always supported Azerbaijan’s stand on Karabakh and never stopped it. And this is I think the strength of our relationship, friendship and brotherhood. Today, your visit will be a game changer, your visit will transform our relations.

We are ready with many MOUs to be signed, agreements to be signed. And just now you gave me a plan how to beautify Islamabad. That shows your interesting commitment for Pakistan. I am very grateful. We will try our best. Your experts will do the best. But I don’t think we can match beautification of Baku under your great leadership.

Your Excellency, I think, it is high time that we now move towards joint collaborations and joint investments in areas which are feasible and which are profitable. My team is ready. Where is Dr. Musadik Malik, Minister of Petroleum. I had two sessions with him to prepare and prepare meticulously, to offer his counterparts propositions, which are most profitable and which can bring dividends to both countries, to both peoples. And in that context, I earlier proposed modest investment from Azerbaijan in these areas provided you approve that, your team approve them, to start with two billion dollars. Then we can really move forward.

And then, of course, how can I not thank you for your great favor for Pakistan for our rice exports. There is no duty, total exemptions. No other country has done this, except Azerbaijan. That’s how we feel so good about this unique relationship.

Your Excellency, I will further develop a few more points, but now for time being I give the floor to you.

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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in his remarks:

- My dear brother, Prime Minister. First of all, thank you for invitation. I am very glad to be back to brotherly Pakistan and continue our active dialogue with you. We met on several occasions on the sidelines of international events and also during your official visit to Azerbaijan last June. As you correctly mentioned, we agreed about this visit just when we were celebrating each other with Eid less than a month ago. Our teams worked very hard and actively in order to prepare the visit. So, it is well prepared. We will sign 15 documents, which embrace many areas of our cooperation. But you are absolutely right that the foundation of our partnership is our brotherhood, the brotherly feeling of the peoples of Pakistan and Azerbaijan towards each other. We always were side by side during difficult times. We, of course, remember that during the liberation war of 2020, Pakistan was one of the countries, which openly provided political support to Azerbaijan by its statements, expressing a straightforward position on territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. Now, our position on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is well known. We are members of the Contact Group of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. We strongly support the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and of course, support the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions. So, the truth is on your side. Justice and international law are on your side. Azerbaijan is one of the countries, which straightforwardly expresses and defends its position. We elaborated the broad agenda of bilateral format. Investment opportunities are one of the areas. As we discussed prior to our meeting, today, we want to see a practical proposal on investments projects in Pakistan. Our teams will of course engage today.