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14 October 2016

Trend

Pakistan is one of the closest friends and allies of Azerbaijan, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

Ilham Aliyev was making statements for the press after his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in Baku on Oct. 14.

President Aliyev said Pakistan is one of the first three countries to recognize Azerbaijan as an independent state.

That time, Nawaz Sharif was serving as Pakistan’s prime minister, and since then, the two countries have built very close friendship relations, added the president.

Ilham Aliyev noted that the two countries always support each other in such international organizations as the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other international structures.

He pointed out that Pakistan and Azerbaijan support each other on the Kashmir problem and on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijan fully supports the settlement of the Kashmir problem based on the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, said the president.

At the same time, Pakistan fully supports the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, he added.

President Aliyev said that unfortunately, these resolutions, which were adopted decades ago, are not fulfilled and this is a proof of a double standards attitude, because, sometimes, the resolutions of the UN Security Council are fulfilled in several days, or even in several hours, but when it comes to Azerbaijan, it takes such a long time.

The mutual support of Azerbaijan and Pakistan to each other in such painful issues has united the two countries, he added.

Azerbaijan is grateful to Pakistan that it doesn’t recognize Armenia due to its occupation of Azerbaijani lands and hasn’t created any diplomatic relations with that country, said President Aliyev.

This is a proof of brotherhood, he said, adding that Azerbaijani people praise this brotherly attitude.

Azerbaijan is also grateful to Pakistan as its Senate officially recognized the Khojaly massacre as genocide in 2012, said President Aliyev, adding this is another proof of friendship and partnership.

Therefore, the people of Azerbaijan love Pakistan, said the president, adding that Azerbaijan is very grateful for this support and, for its part, always supports Pakistan in all the issues.

President Aliyev further said that political contacts between the two countries stand at a very high level.

Reiterating that Pakistan and Azerbaijan support each other in international organizations, the president said that today, they reviewed these issues with Nawaz Sharif and talked about the future activities.

President Aliyev said that undoubtedly, the political contacts between Azerbaijan and Pakistan will continue successfully, but the two countries should work even much in the economic sphere, investment making and creation of mutually beneficial joint ventures.

Ilham Aliyev also said the sides are not satisfied with the current level of the bilateral trade, therefore, today, they discussed the ways of increasing the volume of trade turnover.

He noted that such issues as what Azerbaijan can export to Pakistan and what Pakistan can export to Azerbaijan will be resolved is the coming months.