Pakistan Times
July 9 2004

Musharraf, Aliyev reiterate support on Kashmir, Nagorno-Karabakh
Pakistan Times Foreign Desk

BAKU (Azerbaijan): President General Pervez Musharraf and his Azeri
counterpart Ilham Aliyev Thursday agreed to upgrade bilateral
relations in various fields, reiterating their countries’ support to
each other on issues including Kashmir dispute and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Joint Press Conference

“Pakistan and Azerbaijan support each other on all international and
regional issues,” declared Azeri President Aliyev at a joint Press
Conference with President Musharraf.

The joint press conference followed official talks between the two
sides and signing of four agreements on promoting cooperation in
various fields.

‘Azerbaijan supports Pak on Kashmir’

President Aliyev said Azerbaijan supports Pakistan’s stand on the
Jammu and Kashmir dispute while “Pakistan supports us on the issue of
Nagorno Karabakh. We believe that these two issues should be settled
according to international and UN resolutions,” he said.

President Musharraf told newsmen that the two countries had a
complete identity of views on all major international and political
issues. He said the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia is a
cause of concern for Pakistan and we will continue our support for
Azerbaijan on this issue.”

Musharraf said during the talks, they also discussed issues including
the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Palestine question and
agreed to keep in touch with each other.

Agreements

Referring to the agreements signed between the two sides, President
Musharraf said they will lead the two countries to a new era of
cooperation.

The agreements pertain to promotion in the fields of tourism and
culture, cooperation in customs, cooperation in combating narcotics,
drug production and trafficking and cooperation in controlling
international terrorism and crime.

Joint Declaration

The two leaders also signed a joint declaration, reaffirming the two
countries’ mutual commitment to maintaining and augmenting political,
trade and economic cooperation.

President Aliyev said both countries are eager to improve economic
cooperation. “It will continue to grow, and energy, tourism,
agriculture are some of the sectors for joint ventures between two
countries.”

President Musharraf said Azerbaijan has expertise in oil and gas and
Pakistan can benefit from these, while Pakistan can extend expert
level cooperation to Azerbaijan in the fields of information
technology and banking sector.

JMC, Scolarships

The joint ministerial commission of the two countries, Musharraf
urged, must meet annually to provide follow-up to progress on various
issues to the mutual benefit of both.

President Musharraf also announced offering 15 scholarships to Azeri
students, including ten in the IT field and business administration
and five in the banking sector.

President Musharraf invited his host to visit Pakistan which
President Aliyev accepted. During the official talks, the two sides
also exchanged views on defence training and production.`