Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev will visit Pakistan on July 11-12, the Pakistani Foreign Office announced on Tuesday, with bilateral economic cooperation high on the agenda.
The visit follows the inaugural Pakistan-Turkiye-Azerbaijan trilateral summit in Kazakhstan earlier this month, attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. At the summit, Sharif proposed the establishment of tripartite institutional mechanisms in economic and investment areas to strengthen cooperation among the three nations.
Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated that President Aliyev will meet with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Sharif during his visit.
“The two sides will engage in wide-ranging discussions on areas of mutual interest to further strengthen bilateral cooperation,” she said in a statement. “Several agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) are expected to be signed during the visit.”
Baloch emphasized that President Aliyev’s visit reflects “robust cooperation and leadership-level dialogue” between the two countries.
During the last meeting with the Azerbaijan leader, PM Sharif highlighted the deep-rooted cultural, historical, and religious ties between Pakistan and Azerbaijan. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to elevating 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. Last year, the South Asian country averted a sovereign default and is currently seeking more than $6 billion in bailout funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
