(MENAFN- AzerNews)
Qabil Ashirov read more The importance of Azerbaijan soars increasingly worldwide
against the backdrop of the global energy crisis due to the
Ukrainian War. As the European countries backed out to purchase
natural gas from Russia after the war, gas prices ramped up. The
crisis roiled all countries throughout the world, especially
emerging economies in Asia. Brotherly Pakistan is one the countries
that struggle somehow to cope with the increasing energy crisis.
The situation in Pakistan has got worsened since February 2023. In
this difficult time, Azerbaijan raced to assist the brotherly
country. Azerbaijan and Pakistan signed an agreement on selling LNG
at a cheap price and on the heels of the agreement the Pakistani PM
Office made a statement that PM Shehbaz Sharif will pay a maiden
visit to Azerbaijan on June 14, 2023, at the invitation of
President Ilham Aliyev. The statement reads that Ministers
representing the priority areas of cooperation with Azerbaijan will
be part of the PM's entourage. According to the Prime Ministry's
office, the prime minister will hold wide-ranging talks with
President Ilham Aliyev on key areas of cooperation including trade,
investment, and energy. Regional and global issues of mutual
concern and cooperation in multilateral forums will also be
discussed.
Speaking to Azernews on the issue, Dr. Mehmood
Ul Hassan Khan, an Executive Director of the Center for South &
International Studies (CSAIS) Islamabad noted that LNG has become
the backbone of Pakistan's economy, and constant and continued
increase in its price is creating serious socio-economic and
geopolitical problems for the current government of Pakistan.
“The incumbent government has been striving hard to secure easy
and smooth supplies of LNG from different sources and countries,
but due to complex and complicated economic conditions and regional
power politics, the same has not yet been achieved. However, the
Republic of Azerbaijan has become a beacon of hope for sustainable
energy supplies in the country. Serious and sincere bilateral
negotiations have been initiated which are now being carried out
and finalized during the current visit of Prime Minister of
Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif to Baku,” Hassan Khan said.
He emphasized that LNG has become an engine of socio-economic
prosperity and industrialization in the country and hopefully with
the signing of an agreement on LNG it would be a good omen for the
countries, industries, societies, and communities in the days to
come.
Taking into account the ministers and officials who will
accompany the PM, Hassan Khan thinks that the two countries can
enhance their economic cooperation by reaching new agreements in
different fields.
“It predicts that both countries may extend their bilateral
cooperation in different and diversified sectors of the economy,
especially in oil & gas cooperation, agriculture, health,
infrastructure development, mining, education, and defense
cooperation, etc. It also hopes that agreement on further
strengthening of the civil aviation sector, textile, garments, ICT,
IT, and space cooperation would also be considered and signed.
Mining cooperation and infrastructure development projects in the
newly liberated areas of Karabakh may also be tabled and signed,”
he said.
He also touched on military cooperation between the two
countries. As is known Azerbaijan has been interested in JF-17
Thunder for a long.
“I am optimistic on that issue which has now become a strategic
value addition in this regard. Strong and sustainable military
cooperation between Pakistan and Azerbaijan is the need of the hour
which would also be important to balance the military cooperation
between Armenia and India in the South Caucasus region,” the expert
added.
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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews' staff journalist, follow him on
Twitter: @g_ashirov