ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday stressed the need to enhance the bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Azerbaijan and said that the current $40 million bilateral trade hardly shows the strong ties between the two brotherly nations.
The Prime Minister expressed these views while addressing the Pakistan-Azerbaijan Business Forum in Baku along with President Ilham Aliyev.
Prime Minister Sharif, who is currently on a two-day official visit to Azerbaijan informed the forum that to meet the $2 billion trade investment announced by President Ilham Aliyev during his visit to Pakistan, a lot of work was done by the teams from both countries.
He appreciated the Azerbaijan President for removing the import duty on Basmati rice from Pakistan.
The prime minister added during their meetings, both sides also focused on different areas to address tariff issues so the bilateral import and export between the two countries could increase.
He mentioned LNG as another trading commodity that could be added to the trading pool, besides defence equipment and cooperation. “If we put our acts together, we can achieve $2 billion trade volume between the two countries,” he stressed.
ALSO READ: Pakistan, Azerbaijan Agree to Boost Bilateral Investment to $2 Billion
He described President Ilham Aliyev’s upcoming visit to Pakistan in April as highly beneficial for both nations and praised his significant contributions toward this development. He added that the collaboration would strengthen fraternal ties and open up unprecedented opportunities for trade and investment.
The Prime Minister also emphasised the need for closer and more enhanced cooperation between the business communities of both countries to explore new avenues for trade and investment, particularly in the agriculture, industry, and IT sectors, which hold immense growth potential.
He announced the creation of a permanent bureau in Pakistan, consisting of representatives from both sides, to work on these initiatives with the support of AI and real-time information. He assured that an effective mechanism would be established, urging the teams to develop a strong framework that would greatly benefit both nations.
He noted the defence cooperation between the two countries had already been there and they further discussed strengthening it.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif viewed that the North-South Corridor would be an efficient, reliable, and cost-effective transportation means of connectivity initiative that would help achieve their targets.
He was of the opinion that the Gwadar Port would play a very pivotal role as a game-changer in the region.
He said the Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce had established its office in Islamabad and also its offshoots in Pakistan, adding that Pakistan would also establish such like office in Baku which would be helpful in collecting information about the potential of trade and investment.
