Pakistan’s Musharraf assures Azeri leader of support in Karabakh issue
Azerbaijani TV Channel One, Baku
8 Jul 04
The presidents of Azerbaijan and Pakistan, Ilham Aliyev and Pervez
Musharraf, held a joint news conference following the signing of a
number of bilateral cooperation agreements. Before answering
questions, the presidents made statements.
In his remarks, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev welcomed the
visiting Pakistani president and the delegation accompanying him. He
said the visit was a significant event in the history of the two
countries and added that the two countries maintained effective
cooperation in the political, economic and cultural fields. Aliyev
said that Pakistan and Azerbaijan had always supported each other in
the international arena.
“Pakistan has always supported Azerbaijan’s fair position on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and I would like to thank the
distinguished president on behalf of the Azerbaijani people,” Aliyev
said.
He said that Azerbaijan would also provide its political support to
Pakistan. Under such circumstances, economic cooperation will bring
the countries even closer together, Aliyev said. These issues, he
added, are permanently discussed by the intergovernmental economic
cooperation.
“There are great opportunities in the fields of tourism, energy and
agriculture. Of course, our relations in the humanitarian and cultural
areas are successfully developing as well. Pakistan and Azerbaijan are
allies, we understand each other very well, our positions on
international and regional issues overlap and I am sure that our
relations will improve even further after this visit,” Ilham Aliyev.
At the end of his statement, Aliyev reiterated his words of welcome
for the Pakistani leader and expressed the hope that the visit would
be productive and successful.
In his reciprocal address, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
thanked his Azerbaijani counterpart for the warm welcome and for his
words about thriving Pakistani-Azerbaijani relations. He said it was a
pleasure to lead the Pakistani delegation visiting Azerbaijan.
“Pakistan and Azerbaijan enjoy very strong cultural, historic and
religious bonds, therefore, these bonds must facilitate cooperation
and collaboration in all fields, especially political and economic,”
he said.
He added that the presidents and the delegations of the two countries
had held a very comprehensive exchange of views on many areas.
“In the political field the special feature of our relationship is the
reciprocal support that Pakistan has always received and is always
grateful to Azerbaijan for its support on the Kashmir dispute. We also
support Azerbaijan in the Nagornyy Karabakh issue,” Musharraf
stressed.
“The occupation of Nagornyy Karabakh by Armenia is the cause of
concern to us, the government of Pakistan, and every individual
Pakistani. Therefore, I have assured the president of our continual
and full support in this dispute with Armenia over Nagornyy Karabakh,”
he said.
The Pakistani president pointed to complete identity of views on all
international issues and said that the two presidents had agreed to
keep in touch in order to continuously renew their approaches to
problems.
“In the economic field we have agreed that we need to identify areas
of common interest and focus on them through the creation of a joint
economic commission which must meet on an annual basis, so that we can
then proceed further for mutual benefits,” Pervez Musharraf said.
“We are extremely glad at the signing of these agreements. We look
forward and are very sure that these will be precursors for more
interaction between our two countries, for closer cooperation and
understanding between our two countries,” he said.
Musharraf said he had invited Ilham Aliyev to Pakistan and that the
invitation was accepted.
At the end of his statement, Musharraf said in Turkish: “Long live
Pakistani-Azerbaijani friendship. I believe that we are not friends,
we are brothers. Pakistan has always been together with Azerbaijan.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress