Pakistan desires to strengthen trade, tourism ties with Azerbaijan: President Alvi

President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday said Pakistan wanted to further strengthen bilateral ties with Azerbaijan, particularly in the fields of trade, energy, defence, culture and tourism. The president, in a meeting with the visiting Speaker of the Parliament of Azerbaijan, Prof Sahiba Gafarova, who called on him, at Aiwan-e-sadr, said Pakistan attached utmost significance to its ties with Azerbaijan. He said both the countries had shared religion, values, culture, as well as commonalities of views on regional and international issues. The president underscored the need for exchanging political, cultural, and economic delegations at high levels to further solidify bilateral cooperation. He congratulated the government and people of Azerbaijan on liberation of their territories from occupation of Armenia and signing of landmark peace agreement. The president appreciated the steadfast support extended by Azerbaijan to the legitimate cause of Kashmiri people. He expressed the hope that her visit would further deepen bilateral relations and asked the Speaker to communicate his good wishes to the people and government of Azerbaijan. Prof Gafarova emphasised the need for increasing interactions between the two countries at economic, political, cultural and strategic levels. She also underlined the need for promoting cultural ties to build bridges between the people of the two brotherly countries. The speaker conveyed that the people and political leaderships of Azerbaijan were highly grateful to Pakistan for supporting her country’s stance on Nagorno-karabakh. She said that her country would continue to support Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir at all fora.