Azerbaijan is hosting the Third Parliamentary Assembly of Economic Cooperation Organization (PAECO) at Baku. Enhancing Parliament to Parliament contacts,strengthen people to people contacts with a view to achieving mutual understanding, trust and friendship among the peoples of the ECO member countries, parliamentary interaction through strengthening Parliamentary Friendship Groups in the parliaments of the members of PAECO and promote exchange of visits of Parliamentary committees, are the major objectives of the Parliamentary Assembly. Azerbaijan has an important role in Parliamentary Association of ECO.
Pakistani Parliamentary delegation reached Baku to actively participate in the PAECO moot under the leadership of National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf.
Earlier, Ambassador of Azerbaijan in Pakistan Khazar Farhadov called on Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf to welcome him to Baku for the conference. Ambassador said on this occasion that Pakistan and Azerbaijan were intertwined in shared socio-cultural values and mutual interests.
He said that both countries enjoyed unanimity of view on regional and international issues. The people of subcontinent especially Pakistanis have special spiritual affiliation with all Central Asian States including Azerbaijan.
Reiterating Pakistan principled stance on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Speaker said that Pakistan had and will always supports unequivocally the right of Azerbaijan.
While appreciating the establishment of Urdu Chair in Baku University, he said that this would bring people of both countries together.
He also proposed that the same should be reciprocated by establishing Azerbaijan Study center in Universities of Pakistan. He also proposed that both countries can harness their ties by increasing cooperation in the field of energy and trade.
Referring to the immense potential in tourism sector, he proposed measures to reap the benefits for mutual benefit.
Ambassador Khazar Farhadov said that his country also attaches immense importance to its relations with Pakistan.He expressed his gratitude for support of Pakistan to the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia. He reiterated his country’s support to Pakistan’s principled stance on issue of Kashmir.
He said that Azeri investors would certainly like to take part in the economic activity in Pakistan. He said that both countries have immense tourism potential and both can take socio-economic benefits by exploring opportunities in tourism sector.
He informed that visa process for Azerbaijan has been made easy and Pakistani national can get visa in less than an hour. He also proposed that there should be direct flight between both countries.
Pakistan hosted the second general conference of (PAECO) in June 2021.The two-day conference at Islamabad was attended by the parliamentary heads from Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Speaker of Milli Majlis Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova visited Pakistan and Speaker Asad Qaisar led a delegation to Baku.
Tazeen Akhtar 
