Azerbaijan president to visit Pakistan on July 11-12 with economic cooperation on agenda

ISLAMABAD: Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev will undertake a visit to Pakistan on July 11-12, the Pakistani Foreign Office said on Tuesday, with bilateral economic cooperation on the agenda.
The visit follows an inaugural Pakistan-Turkiye-Azerbaijan trilateral summit in Kazakhstan this month, which was attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
At the summit, Sharif proposed establishment of tripartite institutional mechanisms in economic and investment areas to further strengthen cooperation among the three nations.
Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said President Aliyev would hold meetings with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Sharif during the visit.
“The two sides will engage in wide-ranging discussions on areas of mutual interest in order to further strengthen bilateral cooperation,” she said in a statement. “Several Agreements and MoUs (memorandums of understanding) are expected to be signed during the visit.”
Baloch said the visit by the Azerbaijan president visit reflected “robust cooperation and leadership-level dialogue” between the two countries.
During the last meeting between the Azerbaijan leader, PM Sharif had said his country valued deep-rooted cultural, historical and religious ties between Pakistan and Azerbaijan.
He had reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to working together to elevate the tripartite cooperation into a “strong multifaceted partnership” across the sectors of economy, energy, tourism, culture, education and technology.
In recent months, Pakistan has increasingly sought to attract investment and trade with regional countries amid a macroeconomic crisis. The South Asian country last year averted a sovereign default and is currently seeking more than $6 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).