Azerbaijan has shown keen interest in exploring business and investment opportunities in Pakistan’s energy sector. In the second week of October Ambassador of Azerbaijan Ali Alizada along with Country Head SOCAR in Pakistan Turab called on Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan at the Petroleum Division. During the meeting areas of mutual interest were discussed by the two sides. The state-owned State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is Azerbaijan’s largest oil and Gas Company. It has operations in many countries primarily in Europe and Asia.
Quite recently businessmen of Azerbaijan had expressed keen interest in oil and gas exploration activities as well as opportunities in the LNG infrastructure in Pakistan and offered LNG supplies on a long-term basis. Pakistan has developed as an important LNG market in recent years that has attracted interest from various investors.
Ambassador of Azerbaijan, Ali Alizada remarked, “We would like to boost our economic ties with Pakistan, especially in the energy sector.”
Federal Minister for Petroleum Omar Ayub Khan appreciated the warm words expressed by the ambassador. He said, “Our government has an open door policy for business and investors.” The federal minister asked the Azerbaijan side to explore investment opportunities in “gas distribution, exploration and renewable energy which we plan to take to 60% of our energy mix in future. Azerbaijan was also offered access to Gwadar port by the minister.
