ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Azerbaijan agreed to hold fast-track dialogue on energy collaboration on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held an elaborate meeting with President Ilham Aliyev in Astana on the sidelines of the Sixth Summit of Conference for Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
Both leaders discussed the bilateral relations between the two countries while hoping to increase cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, education, information technology, security, agriculture, connectivity and energy.
“Prime Minister [Sharif] underlined the need for fostering close cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy, which is a high priority area for his government,” said a statement circulated by the PM Office in Islamabad after the meeting. “Both leaders agreed to fast track discussions on energy collaboration between the two countries through robust engagement.”
Last month, Pakistan’s state minister for petroleum Musadik Masood Malik visited Baku to discuss energy cooperation after the prime minister nominated him as the focal person on the issue.
Sharif also proposed leadership level consultations between the two sides in Islamabad to enhance regional connectivity while talking to the Azerbaijan president who accepted the suggestion.
This was the second interaction between the two leaders in the wake of their last meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in September.
According to the PM Office, both meetings “afforded a productive opportunity for catalyzing multifaceted economic engagement between Pakistan and Azerbaijan.”
The prime minister also briefed President Aliyev on his government’s efforts to rehabilitate flood-affected people in and restore their livelihoods destroyed by the unprecedented climate-induced catastrophe.
He also appreciated Azerbaijan’s steadfast position on Kashmir and its valuable role as a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir.
