Ilham - Shehbaz cement further ties

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, arrived in Islamabad on July 12 on a two-day official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Premier Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar, warmly received President Ilham Aliyev at Nur Khan Airbase.  A 21-gun salute heralded the arrival of the Azerbaijani leader.

During his visit, President Ilham Aliyev remained engaged in high-level meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari. The discussions covered a broad range of topics aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan. Pakistan is honoured to host President Aliyev. His recent visit signifies the strong bondage between the two nations and our commitment to furthering mutual interests. Azerbaijan and Pakistan share a strong bilateral friendship. Both countries look forward to enhancing collaboration in various sectors.

The visit is expected to result in the signing of several agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to cement the partnership between the two countries.

Leaderships of Pakistan and Azerbaijan have agreed to enhance bilateral business and trade initially up to US $ 2 billion. Both Pakistan and Azerbaijan have tremendous potential of worth billions of dollars in trade and investment. The government of Pakistan is willing to enhance bilateral trade and investment up to the highest possible level.  Premier Shehbaz Sharif is impressed with the development pace of Azerbaijan. He is optimistic that Pakistan will catch up with the surprising pace of development of Azerbaijan.

Pakistan is a great supporter of Azerbaijan's right over the issue of Nagorno Karabakh. Similarly, Azerbaijan is a strong supporter of the right of self-determination of Kashmiris. Azerbaijan stands by the Pakistani principle stance on Kashmir and is worried about the distorted human rights conditions of Kashmiris.

Pakistan and Azerbaijan have long maintained strong defence ties. Both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Ilham Aliyev are ambitious of having multi-dimensional cooperation in defence, IT, science and technology, agriculture, mining, air service, exchange of cultural troupe, state-of-the-art engineering projects, Textile, Sports surgical instruments etc. Premier Shehbaz Sharif in the presence of President Ilham Aliyev has announced that he will visit  Azerbaijan in November this year along with a high-level Pakistani delegation. In the delegation, several top Pakistani businessmen will accompany Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Since Shehbaz Sharif has taken oath as Prime Minister he has pulled up his socks and is on his toes to address multiple gigantic challenges. The economy being the main focus is his priority and read line. The premier believes that a strong economy is directly based on strong foreign policy and multilateral cooperation. Since the commencement of Shehbaz Sharif's term as Prime Minister he has been travelling around to Saudia Arabia, China, Middle East and Central Asian States to cement multilateral ties.

Because of the extraordinary efforts of Premier Shehbaz Sharif Saudia Arabia and UAE have pledged and shown their willingness on projects over worth US $ 10 billion each. China is on the verge of initiation of the second phase of China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Gigantic projects in the second phase of CPEC  will change the fate of the country and 250 million people of Pakistan. 

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Premier Shehbaz Sharif believe that terrorism is a global issue and that this evil can only be overcome with collective global efforts. Premier Shehbaz Sharif and the armed forces of Pakistan have already decided to crush terrorists across the country.  Pakistan is the worst terrorism-hit country in the world.  During the last 25 years, Pakistan has sacrificed one hundred thousand precious lives. Pakistan has had a loss of multiple billion dollars during the last twenty-five years. Azerbaijan has always been extending its moral support against terrorism. 

Pakistan is a nuclear power with high standards in the military hardware. Regarding military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan, it is possible to produce weapons for common purposes, as well as laying the foundations of military enterprises. On the other hand, Pakistan aims to strengthen its relations with Azerbaijan in the field of energy on account of the lack of energy resources.

Azerbaijan has approached Pakistan with wishes to further expand cooperation in the fields of joint production of defence products.

In 2014, during the fifth meeting of the working group on military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Pakistan in Islamabad, the countries signed an agreement on mutual military cooperation. Over the past decade, Pakistani military experts have trained about a hundred Azerbaijani military officers.

Azerbaijan is willing to procure JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighter aircraft from Pakistan. In October 2016 President Aliyev and the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif confirmed plans to carry out joint military exercises. In 2019–2020, the mass production of JF-17 Block 3 fighters was scheduled. Azerbaijan is interested in the procurement of Super Mushak trainer aircraft from Pakistan also. On 12 September 2021, Azerbaijan hosted joint military drills with Pakistan and Turkey. On 22 February, Pakistan and Azerbaijan struck a deal of 1.6 billion dollars, where Azerbaijan would procure JF-17 from Pakistan. Pakistan and Azerbaijan are strong strategic partners and are willing to touch new bilateral horizons in multiple spheres.