Pakistan, Azerbaijan Bilateral Trade Enhancement Top Priority: Ambassador Qasim Mohiuddin

BAKU, September 3: Pakistan’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Qasim Mohiuddin has said that enhancing bilateral trade with Azerbaijan is among the top priorities of the leadership of both countries, with efforts underway to translate their strong political ties into sustained economic cooperation.

Talking to AZERTAC, the ambassador said the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) had enabled Pakistan and Azerbaijan to grant tariff concessions on several designated goods, while the Transit Trade Agreement (TTA) had also helped promote greater trade volumes between the two brotherly countries.

He said efforts were currently underway to harmonize customs regulations and strengthen cooperation mechanisms between commercial banks to ensure more efficient and timely settlement of trade transactions.

The ambassador noted that despite excellent political relations, the volume of bilateral trade remained below its potential. He said both sides were therefore working to bring their business communities closer and create more opportunities for direct business-to-business (B2B) engagement.

He said there had been increased B2B interaction in Baku as well as in various commercial centres of Pakistan following the implementation of the PTA and TTA. Pakistan’s leading chambers of commerce and business associations had regularly visited Baku and held meetings with their Azerbaijani counterparts to explore business opportunities.

Similarly, he said, visits by prominent Azerbaijani businessmen to Pakistan were also contributing to stronger commercial ties and helping private-sector representatives identify concrete opportunities and establish sustainable business partnerships.

“Enhancement of bilateral trade is one of the top priorities of our leadership,” the ambassador said, adding that the issue had also received special attention during meetings of the Pakistan-Azerbaijan Inter-Governmental Commission.

He emphasized that the common objective was to capitalize on the strong political relationship between the two countries to achieve concrete, tangible and sustained economic cooperation.