Baku, Islamabad likely to ink interstate agreement on energy supplies
An interstate agreement on the cooperation for the supply of crude oil, refined oil products, LPG and LNG is agreed to be signed between Azerbaijan and Pakistan by the Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry and Pakistan’s Petroleum and Natural Resources Ministry.
An interstate agreement on the cooperation for the supply of crude oil, refined oil products, LPG and LNG is agreed to be signed between Azerbaijan and Pakistan by the Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry and Pakistan’s Petroleum and Natural Resources Ministry.
This agreement was achieved during the sixth session of Azerbaijan-Pakistan joint commission at the governmental level which lasted two days long in Islamabad, according to the Pakistani media.
The agreement is intended to attract investments in the energy sectors of both countries, including reconstruction of the relevant infrastructures and creation of storage facilities in Pakistan.
The decision was made that an agreement will be signed between Azerbaijan and Pakistan on cooperating in the energy sector once all required national legal procedures are carried out.
The two parties agreed on facili- tating negotiations and subsequently signing a memorandum of understanding between Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas company SOCAR and Pakistan’s state oil company PSO on trading crude oil, refined oil products, LNG and LPG, as well as, joint development of new facilities for their import.
In accordance with the interstate agreement, SOCAR will be represented by SOCAR Trading S.A., a trading house which is totally owned affiliate of the company.
During the meeting, Baku and Islamabad also agreed on exploring the possibilities of supplying electricity from Azerbaijan to Pakistan.
What's more, detailed meetings were held between the experts of the two sides on a number of issues, especially focusing on trade and commerce, energy, agriculture, education, science and technologies and other matters of mutual interest.
Both sides further settled to establish and enhance cooperation on defense industry as well.
According to the statistics provided by the State Customs Com- mittee of Azerbaijan, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Pakistan amounted to $1.8 million during the first quarter of 2016.
Overall, Pakistan has been one the closest allies and strategic partners of Azerbaijan in the Asian continent in various fields such as political, economic and military spheres for a long time.
Baku is interested to further develop cooperation and join effort with Islamabad in many spheres.
Two countries intend to join efforts to gain access to modern technologies, as well as, modernize their potential.
Moreover, trade and cooperation has steadily grown between the two nations with several summits being held in these sectors until now.
Pakistan supported Azerbaijan during and after the war over Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. Relations between these two states dates back to 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed and Azerbaijan gained its independence. Pakistan was among the first countries that recognized Azerbaijan.