Azerbaijan and Pakistan, are the two countries still exploring relations on the bottom. Azerbaijan and Pakistan, latterly have deepened relations in the current times, especially after the Second Karabakh War in 2020 and September 2023. With foreign policy outlining both countries support each other diplomatically and have started engaging each other more actively. With Pakistan and Azerbaijan's independence from the occupation powers, Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan's independence alongside Turkey. With Azerbaijani independence, there was chaos when Azerbaijan and Armenia descended into war when Nagarno-Karabakh was illegally occupied by Armenia alongside illegally occupying several cities and settlements of Azerbaijan. Since the start, Pakistan strongly supported Azerbaijan's position over Nagarno-Karabakh at international forums, with sporadic military exercises to enhance the capabilities of Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan also maintained staunch support for Pakistan in the Kashmir issue with India and has been supporting Pakistan officially and at multilateral forums. Moreover, at the humanitarian level, Pakistan and Azerbaijan have a great proportion of support for one another, where Pakistan has received a huge amount of humanitarian aid from Azerbaijan in the face of catastrophes such as the 2005 earthquake, 2010 floods, 2022 floods, and other sectors. The two countries have a significant amount of trade with 2022 reports, Pakistan exports to Azerbaijan of $32 million and Azerbaijan exports to Pakistan of $8.88 million. Pakistan is playing a key role in reforming the Azerbaijan Air Force and reshaping Azerbaijan's military expertise. Both countries pledged to further strengthen cultural and historical ties based on the Baku Declaration in 2021, with deepening political relations with regular political visits from Islamabad, and Baku. But are all these developments and political relations enough for bilateral relations between the two?
The two countries carry huge potential for one another and offer a lot to one another in many sectors with some sectors of high potential being trade & energy, tourism & culture, defense, academic and linguistics, and many more.
Trade & Energy:
With Pakistan and Azerbaijan trade standing, the two seem to have standstill trade with limited benefits achieved by both states mutually. Both states can achieve more in trade, as already Transit Trade Agreement and Preferential Trade Agreement are already in the process of being achieved. A Preferential Trade Agreement might reduce tariffs bilaterally for both markets, where Pakistan is exporting $32 million with Azerbaijan but Azerbaijan's trade lies at only $8.88 million. Marking Azerbaijan's exports to Pakistan must increase more as with reduced tariffs Azerbaijan will be able to sell many of its products. Azerbaijan and Pakistan, trade integration would both states to mutually where expand trade under reduced tariffs on certain products would give a chance for the market Azerbaijan to grow. Pakistan's main exports to Azerbaijan had been rice, tropical fruits, and tomatoes to Azerbaijan but Azerbaijan's domestic need for textile and clothing consumption is growing, and where it has its consumption with high-added value, Pakistan can play a vital role. Pakistan’s efficient textile and clothing products can play a crucial role in the market of Azerbaijan, as textile and clothing from Pakistan are not one of the major exports to Azerbaijan. The market footprint from Pakistan would open up the brands from Pakistan and enable them to draw down the price with prices lower at the market level. The Preferential Trade Agreement can play a first step in the free-trade agreement between the two countries and further clauses can be added such as textile, wheat, rice, sports material, surgical instruments, and many more. In energy, for Pakistan, Azerbaijan can provide petroleum, oil, and gas at negotiated prices or with special relief prices, as Pakistan has an escalating energy crisis and is highly dependent upon UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain's energy supply. Pakistan already got Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Azerbaijan at a 30% discounted price in 2023, which eased Pakistan's energy crisis at the time. Pakistan suffers from chronic gas shortage, rising petroleum prices, and an inviolable market, Azerbaijan can play the determining role that would sustain Pakistan in its long-term sustainability goals. Azerbaijan can play a varying actor in diversifying Pakistan’s LNG, oil, and gas supply by changing the routes of Pakistan's arrival of gas from varying routes. Pakistan, can this way, less rely on the Middle Eastern partners who use oil and petrodollars to meddle in the affairs of Pakistan domestically and foreign policy. The post-liberation of Karabakh, Pakistan, and Azerbaijan, can boost the trade in gold, copper, chromite, and marble, where Pakistan can cope with the gold short supply by having alternative supplies from Azerbaijan. As Azerbaijan is at the juncture and crossroads of two worlds, Pakistan should not leave the market empty and shall take benefit from the comparative market, meanwhile, Azerbaijan can boost its supply of petrol & oil, gold, fats, and chemicals and enter Azerbaijani milk and dairy products market into Pakistan as trial.
Tourism & Culture:
As Azerbaijan's tourism industry is spreading at a significant level, Azerbaijan received 2.5% of its 165,800 tourists in January 2024. Azerbaijan receives high numbers of tourists from different countries yearly usually they are from Russia, Turkiye, Iran, Georgia, and other Arab countries. Pakistan and Azerbaijan can boost the tourism sector at significant levels, as Pakistanis are less aware of Azerbaijan and tourism would help Azerbaijan to raise the tourism for Pakistani tourists. Also, AZAL Airlines and PIA can play a pivotal role by jointly introducing tourist programs for Azerbaijani visiting Pakistan and Pakistani visiting Azerbaijan. As the two countries have eVisa options, both countries can come to negotiating terms by being visa-free for one another and this would also ramp up arrivals for tourists from one another bilaterally. This would also boost tourism in Pakistan, where tourism in North Pakistan is reviving and cooperation would benefit Pakistan's economy and tourism sector. As visits bring more cultural experience, Azerbaijan and Pakistan would enable them to exchange culture with one another at high levels. With Azerbaijan, Safavid, Tsar, Soviet, and current Azerbaijan history, Pakistan would enable to have joint experience at one time with experiencing many cultures in one place. With Pakistan Indo Valley Civilization, Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire, and British colonial empire, Pakistan would able to share its vast historical and cultural sphere with Azerbaijan. The cultural and tourism exposure for both countries is important as Azerbaijan was only a newly established country at the end of the 20th century and many Pakistanis don’t know Azerbaijan that well.
Defense sector:
Pakistan and Azerbaijan are already partnering in several key areas especially Pakistan providing new JF-17 to Azerbaijan under a 1.6 billion dollar deal and military collaboration. Azerbaijan's military which still overhauling and growing structural and tactical change can be supported by Pakistan at the expeditious level as Pakistan's military was formed earlier and has vast experience in different terrains battles. Pakistan can further strengthen its relations in the defense and military sectors by any means and can strengthen the position of Azerbaijan in the South Caucuses. Armenia which getting military support from France and India in the post-war South Caucuses will significantly impact the geopolitics as the peace agreement has not been reached and as Armenia falls for the arms race, there can be the consequence of further military confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Henceforth, Pakistan can play a vital role in strengthening the institutions and military capabilities of Azerbaijan, in the face of any future Armenian aggression.
Academic & Linguistics:
Pakistan and Azerbaijan have an interconnected history such as Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev who sent 300 thousand ampoules of vaccines to a pandemic-hit country where already 100,000 people were dead. There can be joint research projects on Tagiyev's contributions to Pakistan and his life as Tsar and revolutionary Azerbaijan history. Pakistan and Azerbaijan have little or no joint projects in the academic world despite having close political relations between the two. The two have a rich history and have their poets, writers, and revolutionists in their history, but due to no translations of the work, both are less aware of each other history, literature, and art. The two countries' professors can jointly initiate partnerships in leading research work by opening up the history and research for one another which will make the country aware of each other and know more practical work in different fields. Several universities have joint partnerships with one another for exchange students including ADA University, henceforth, more joint partnerships in student exchange and instructor exchange will lead to educational knowledge exchange. In language, Pakistanis are less aware of the Azerbaijani language and literature, and Azerbaijanis are less exposed to the Urdu language, which makes less interaction between the two. Henceforth, when Pakistani tourist, students, and scholars arrives in Azerbaijan, there is a language barrier, which proves to be challenging for the two countries people to communicate, henceforth, Azerbaijan and Pakistan, can introduce Azerbaijani language courses in Pakistan. Language programs must be endorsed by both sides' governments so both countries know each other tongue in understanding and more facilitation in building mutual trust.
Other sectors:
Pakistan and Azerbaijan can come together in many sectors together with Azerbaijan As Pakistan has reinforced its information technology sector and Azerbaijan, where the technology sector is rising, Azerbaijan, can further strengthen its IT relations between the two countries. With the Azerbaijan-Pakistan Technology Forum in 2022, where 35 IT companies indicated the potential collaboration, here both can come up with lucrative ideas for booming and expanding IT operations in Azerbaijan. Further is airline connectivity where Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) can expand their already expanding connecting airways by a significant margin which would increase regional connectivity within the region. AZAL Airlines opening their offices in Pakistan would also boost their presence in South Asia, and the regional Middle Eastern countries, and the PIA office in Baku would be a significant boost for airline capacity to operate in further regions. For climate change, both countries have pledged their climate goals, henceforth, Azerbaijan and Pakistan can cooperate within the climate change framework to mitigate climate change and can be under a green technology transition alongside Azerbaijan, with renewable energies and solar and wind power plants. Electric vehicle initiatives and lithium battery production would further be an injection of boost between the two countries' climate change mitigation efforts. Cooperation can also happen with Azerbaijan's transition to the non-oil sector such as in cement production, horticulture, pharmaceuticals, and public health, where Pakistan, makes Azerbaijan, self-sufficient and independent in its economy. Azerbaijan can further invest in Pakistan's industrials, finances, stock market, and information technology. Moreover, Azerbaijan and Pakistan can open up joint agro-institution in Baku and Islamabad, so Islamabad can have field knowledge exchange with Baku, as Azerbaijan is experimenting with an agricultural revolution, where Pakistan can uplift the agricultural products quality. In last, both countries can feature their entertainment industry in one another as Pakistani and Azerbaijan dramas, music, and films can attract one another, and will break the impasse and expose one another more.