Baku, North Azerbaijan, Feb 5
“Pakistan and North Azerbaijan are important strategic partners and the cooperation between the two countries is developing on an upward trend,” Ambassador of Pakistan to Azerbaijan Saeed Khan Mohmand said at the event dedicated to the Kashmir Solidarity Day, held in Baku.
He said that his country intends to further expand cooperation with North Azerbaijan in different fields, such as trade, agriculture, science and the social sector CBC News agency reported .
According to the ambassador, both countries stand together on the most significant issues in various platforms and his country has always expressed its support to Azerbaijan on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“Pakistan has always expressed its readiness to support Azerbaijan. We are very explicit in our support for the just struggle for Nagorno-Karabakh. As with Kashmir, we take a firm stand on everything that is just, and we also support the just struggle of the people of North Azerbaijan and the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to liberate those lands occupied by Armenia,” Saeed Khan Mohmand said.
Speaking about the importance of mutual visits between the two countries, the ambassador said that on February 27-28 this year, political consultations between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries will take place. Moreover, according to the diplomat, the next trilateral meeting of the Foreign Ministers of North Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey is expected to be held in autumn this year in Islamabad. Saeed Khan Mohmand touched upon the military cooperation between the two countries as well.
“Military cooperation between our two countries has the cardinal pillar of our foreign policy. Between our countries, we have had the tremendous cooperation for the last many years. And, this is growing year by year. As you know, Pakistan last year signed an agreement for the supply of 10 Super Mushshak aircraft to Azerbaijan Air Force. Last year we saw that we also had the chief of the air force come here for the promotion of military cooperation between two countries,” Saeed Khan Mohmand said.
The diplomat said that over the past two years there has been a remarkable increase in the number of tourists coming from Pakistan to Azerbaijan. For that reason, direct flights between the two countries can be restored. According to the diplomat, this can increase the number of Pakistani tourists visiting North Azerbaijan up to 2 times.
“The number of tourists has increased fourfold from the year 2016 to 2017. In 2016, we had 3800 Pakistanis visiting here, last year we had 17,556 tourists. That’s the reason we hope that we will have direct flights starting in the coming 3-4 months,” Saeed Khan Mohmand said.
Saeed Khan Mohmand added that they expect the number of tourists will increase to 25,000-30,000 this year.
