Inaugural Pakistan-Turkiye-Azerbaijan Trilateral Summit Held at SCO in Astana

An inaugural session of Pakistan-Turkiye-Azerbaijan Trilateral Summit was held on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Summit was attended by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, President of Turkiye, H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, H.E. Mr. Ilham Heydar Aliyev.Prime Minister’s Meeting with President Aleksandr Lukashenko on the Sidelines of SCO Summit in Astana

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the convening of inaugural session of Pakistan-Turkiye-Azerbaijan Trilateral Meeting at the Summit level. He termed it as a natural progression of trilateral engagements amongst the three brotherly Muslim countries which share a similar outlook on a host of issues of mutual interest and common concern.

The Prime Minister underscored that Pakistan deeply values its fraternal ties with Azerbaijan and Turkiye which are grounded in deep rooted cultural, historic and religious bonds as well as mutual respect and support towards each other on core issues.

While noting excellent trilateral cooperation in political, parliamentary and defence domains since the First Trilateral Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the three countries held in Baku in 2017, he affirmed Pakistan’s commitment to working together with Turkiye and Azerbaijan to elevate the tripartite cooperation into a strong multifaceted partnership across all areas of mutual interest including economic, energy, tourism, cultural, educational, technology and innovation, healthcare and environmental cooperation.

The Prime Minister proposed to establish tripartite institutional mechanisms particularly in economic and investment areas to further strengthen Pakistan-Turkiye-Azerbaijan trilateral economic and commercial cooperation. Emphasizing strong bonds of friendship and robust people-to-people contacts amongst the three countries, the Prime Minister also outlined significant potential for collaboration in the areas of culture, tourism, academia as well as science and technology.

Pakistan, Turkiye and Pakistan have previously held trilateral consultations at the level of Foreign Ministers, Speakers of Parliaments and Defence Personnel.