LAHORE, Jan 13 (APP): Azerbaijan-Pakistan economic collaboration set to expand as significant initiatives are well on the way to enhance trade, investment, B2B (Business to Business) and people-to-people ties.

“We are going to establish Azerbaijan Trade Center in Lahore and Pakistan-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce to bring the business communities of both countries closer and open new avenues for mutual cooperation”, said Ambassador of Azerbaijan Khazar Farhadov while speaking here at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Monday.

LCCI President Mian Abuzar Shad and Senior Vice President Engineer Khalid Usman also spoke

on the occasion while LCCI Executive Committee Members, including Khurram Lodhi, Ahsan Shahid, Asif Malik, Asif Khan, Waqas Aslam, Abdul Majeed, Karamat Ali Awan, Riaz Shahid, Aamir Ali, Aamna Randhawa, Ali Imran and former Executive Committee Member Abdul Wadud Alvi were also present.

The ambassador said that Azerbaijan had a lot of respect and affection for Pakistani nation and is committed to strengthening bilateral ties. He highlighted the duty-free access granted to Pakistani rice by Azerbaijan until 2027, encouraging traders to capitalize on this opportunity, especially considering Punjab’s reputation for producing high-quality Basmati rice. He assured that Azerbaijani authorities would provide maximum facilitation to Pakistani traders exploring opportunities in Azerbaijan.

Referring to the positive impact of direct flights between the two countries, the ambassador revealed that bilateral trade volume has tripled since 2022, growing from USD 10 million to significantly higher levels. He said that over 80,000 Pakistanis visited Azerbaijan last year which reflects the growing interest and people-to-people connections.

The ambassador also invited Pakistani investors to explore opportunities in Azerbaijan’s infrastructure and energy sectors and highlighted the country’s strategic position as a key international transport corridor between Asia and Europe. He highlighted Azerbaijan’s strong trade surplus and assured robust support for potential collaborations.

On the energy front, Ambassador Farhadov stressed the importance of further collaboration in defense, petroleum products and other sectors. He also reiterated the USD 2 billion investment commitment made during Azerbaijan President’s visit to Pakistan, with work underway to realize these projects.

LCCI President Mian Abuzar Shad underscored the excellent diplomatic, historical and cultural relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan and called for joint efforts to boost bilateral trade to USD one billion in the coming years.

He said that Azerbaijan shares borders with Russia, Georgia, Iran, Turkey and Armenia. The geographic position of Azerbaijan makes it a key player in regional trade and transportation networks. Azerbaijan is also known for its huge reserves of oil and natural gas which make it a major player in the global energy market.

The LCCI president said that despite having such deep relations, we have yet to succeed in utilizing the real trade potential. According to the trade figures, our exports to Azerbaijan in 2023-24 were just 6 million dollars whereas the imports from Azerbaijan amounted to few thousand dollars. The main reason of such a low level of trade is lack of proper information about each other’s markets.

“We are really keen to take fair share in the overall trade of Azerbaijan. The global exports of Azerbaijan were around 34 billion dollars while global imports were nearly 17 billion dollars in 2023. We need to make joint efforts to take trade volume between both countries to at least One Billion Dollars in coming few years”, he added.

LCCI Senior Vice President Engineer Khalid Usman said that Pakistan’s exports to Azerbaijan consist of rice, water pumps, fruits and fabrics of cotton etc. There is an urgent need of finding new products lines and new avenues of cooperation for enhancing trade between Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

He said that Pakistani products including pharmaceuticals, surgical instruments, sports goods, value-added textiles, leather products, home-made crafts, processed food and engineering goods have great scope in Azerbaijan. There is a great potential of Joint Ventures in tourism sector as well. Azerbaijan can also benefit from the expertise of Pakistan in IT sector.

LCCI office-bearers said that the commercial sections of our embassies have to play a positive role in this connection. Similarly, in order to increase people to people contacts and mutual trade, the embassies and chambers should provide every possible support to the business communities of both the countries.

Mian Abuzar Shad said that organizing trade delegations and holding single country exhibitions on reciprocal basis will be effective in opening new avenues that are much needed for enhancing the mutual trade relations.