Ambassador Alizada says  defense and military cooperation was one of the main and leading components of the bilateral relations of two brotherly countries

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Alizada has said that his country will start direct flights operation with Pakistan soon after the slowdown of Covid-19 which will yield positive impacts on economic and trade activities of both the countries.

His country was always interested in developing regional connectivity, transportation linkages, he said in a media interview.

Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Alizada said in a media interview. At present the two countries have no direct air link. Their air link is established through Turkish Airlines, which was allowed to operate flights from Istanbul to Lahore/Islamabad through Baku.

They had signed the Draft Air Services Agreement (ASA) in 1993, and a memorandum of understanding on September 30, 2009, while a codeshare was agreement inked by their national air carriers in January 2020. According to reports, more than 40,000 Pakistani citizens visited Azerbaijan in 2019 and this number is likely to continue to grow once the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic subsided and international travel restrictions are lifted.

Ambassador Alizada said defence and military cooperation was one of the main and leading components of the bilateral relations of two brotherly countries.

He said keeping in view the regional political and geographical situation, Azerbaijan gave topmost priority to its security, and considered the military and defence cooperation (with the brotherly states) vital to ensure and protect its sovereignty.

Pakistan and Azerbaijan, he said, had developed their strong defence cooperation in different spheres such as military training , military-technical and military-educational and others. The two countries still needed to intensify more efforts in the area, he stressed.

“Our armed forces are working closely on mutually sharing experience on annual basis. The servicemen and officers from both sides take part in different courses and trainings organized in our respective countries. Every year we organize several high level exchanges of military leadership and officials mutually.”

As regards the trilateral military format, Ambassador Alizada said ,”We have a very good understanding in the trilateral format, when it comes to the armed forces of Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey.”

Besides conducting joint bilateral military exercises with Pakistan, the trilateral military exercises with the involvement of various types of troops of Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey were under consideration, which would hopefully take place during the current year, he added. The defence and military cooperation among three countries, he said, was because of their high level strategic partnership. ” I am sure it will be further strengthened in the years ahead.”