Azerbaijan, Pakistani leaders agree to promote economic ties

AP Worldstream;
Apr 12, 2005

Azerbaijan’s president met with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez
Musharraf on Tuesday, and the two sides agreed to enhance economic
cooperation, the state-run news agency reported.

Ilham Aliev held talks with Musharraf shortly after arriving in the
Pakistani capital, Islamabad, for a three-day visit, the Associated
Press of Pakistan said.

“They agreed on stepping up contacts between business communities of
the two countries as part of joint endeavors to promote trade and
economic ties to mutual benefit,” APP said.

Musharraf said Pakistan backed Azerbaijan in its dispute with Armenia
over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been under ethnic
Armenian control since a war ended in 1994 without a political
settlement.

Pakistan and Azerbaijan also called for promoting visits by lawmakers
to each other’s countries while also increasing people-to-people
contacts, APP said.

Aliev also met with Chaudhry Ameer Hussain, the speaker of the
National Assembly, Pakistan’s lower house of Parliament.

He is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other
senior government officials on Wednesday to sign agreements for
cooperation in communications, information technology, finance,
education and culture, the Foreign Ministry said Monday in a
statement.