Islamabad, 18 October 2021 (TDI): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan wishes Azerbaijan on its independence day. Azerbaijan Independence Day also known as State Sovereignty Day is commemorated with national zeal and enthusiasm. On October 18 1991, Azerbaijan adopted a state independence law and became the first republic to formally secede from the Soviet Union.
Happy 3️⃣0️⃣ Independence Day #Azerbaijan❗️
Zəfərlə qarşıladığımız Bayramımız Mübarək❗️
Istiqlaliyyət günü
🇵🇰 🤝 🇦🇿 @PakinAzerbaijan @AzEmbPak @AzerbaijanMFA pic.twitter.com/q01tHe1jK4
— Foreign Minister’s Public Diplomacy 🇵🇰 (@FMPublicDiploPK) October 18, 2021
Pakistan-Azerbaijan ties
Political cooperation
Pakistan and Azerbaijan share amicable and brotherly relations. One thing that binds Azerbaijan and Pakistan is that they are Muslim-majority countries.
In the early 1990s, Pakistan was the second country to recognized Azerbaijan as an independent country, following Turkey. Pakistan, on the other hand, is the only country that does not recognize Armenia, a political decision in solidarity with Baku. Both countries share amicable and friendly ties. Pakistan supports Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh issue and Azerbaijan supports Pakistan on Jammu and Kashmir issue.
Economic cooperation
Most recently Pakistan and Azerbaijan have commenced the first logistics transport operation under the Transports Internationaux Routiers Convention (TIR). The National Logistic Cell (NLC) Pakistan conducts the operation. This milestone will boost economic ties between the two countries.
Energy ministries of the two countries had signed an inter-governmental agreement in February 2017 for the import of LNG from Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijan government has nominated Socar and Pakistan has designated PSO for signing a commercial deal.
Socar Trading, a commercial arm of the Azerbaijan Republic’s State Oil Company, has offered to supply petrol and LNG cargoes to Pakistan LNG Ltd (PLL) and Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on credit throughout the year as part of a government-to-government (G2G) agreement to strengthen the two countries’ strategically friendly relationship.
Defence Cooperation
both sides are keen to foster defence cooperation. In January 2021, Lieutenant General Ramiz Tahirov, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Commander of the Air Force, met with former Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, Commander of the Air Force of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Lieutenant General R. Tahirov expressed satisfaction with the education of Azerbaijani military pilots at the Pakistan Air Force Academy, emphasizing that the enhanced cooperation between the two countries’ Air Forces, including military-education and other fields, contributes to further strengthening our combat capability.
The parties discussed extending cooperation and expanding relations between the Air Forces of Azerbaijan and Pakistan, as well as conducting joint military exercises, during the meeting.
Azerbaijan is famously known as the Land of Fire. For more information click here.