Pakistan, Azerbaijan to hold third round of BPCs on May 30

Pakistan and Azerbaijan will hold a third round of Bilateral Political Consultations (BPCs) on May 30-June 1, 2023 in Baku, to be attended by Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary

Both sides will review the implementation of decisions taken during the last meeting and JMC-activation of Working Groups, Pakistan-based Business Recorder writes.

The sides will discuss possibilities of high-level visits, such as the visits of prime ministers and foreign ministers, the status of pending memorandums of understanding /agreements, in addition to briefings on Kashmir and Karabakh respectively

Issues of trade and economy are also part of the agenda which will cover:

Review on decisions of the working group on trade;

Preferential trade agreement;

Tariff-free access to Pakistani rice;

Transit trade agreement;

Scope of more trade in agriculture produce including fruits and vegetable ad;

Exchange of business delegation and participation in fairs and exhibitions in respective countries;

For connectivity between both countries, the possibility of operations of airlines and land will also be considered;

On energy, a follow-up on the outcomes during the visit of Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister, Joint Working Group on Energy and PSO-SOCAR talks are also on the agenda of talks.

Besides, regional issues, like Iran, Russia, Türkiye, Afghanistan, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), trilateral mechanisms of engagement and security will also be discussed during the talks.

Both sides will discuss the following issues on education and cultural cooperation:

Cooperation between ADA and FCA-announcement of the MoU;

AIDA-sponsored language course for one junior diplomat- announcement during the talks; Language exchange programme for one Azerbaijani diplomat at National University of Modern Language (NUML);

General student exchange program/ scholarship exchange;

Accreditation of Azerbaijani universities in Pakistan;

Sister cities-agreement on cultural cooperation and ;

The airing of Pakistani dramas on popular Azerbaijani channels.

Both sides will also discuss issues related to tourism and specialised tourism in Azerbaijan’s Northern areas.