Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will leave for Azerbaijan today (Wednesday) at the invitation of President Ilham Aliyev, as Islamabad aims to secure spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries from Baku.
A day earlier, Pakistan floated two tenders for spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes after nearly a year and also revealed an agreement with Azerbaijan to receive monthly LNG cargoes from them.
Due to dependence on gas for power generation and limited foreign exchange reserves, Pakistan has been facing challenges in procuring spot cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) since global prices spiked due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. .
Petroleum Minister Mossadegh Malik announced on Tuesday that Azerbaijan has agreed to supply monthly LNG cargoes to Pakistan at a cheaper price. Although specific details of the supply agreement were not disclosed, the country confirmed that an agreement has been signed with Azerbaijan and that deliveries will begin in the near future.
This situation resulted in widespread power outages. However, Asian spot LNG prices have fallen significantly this year, falling below $10 from a record high of $70/mmBtu in August.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s delegation will also include ministers representing priority areas of cooperation with Azerbaijan.
During his visit, the Prime Minister will hold wide-ranging discussions with the President of Azerbaijan on key areas of cooperation including trade, investment and energy.
During this time, regional and global issues of mutual interest and cooperation in multilateral forums will also be discussed.
“Pakistan-Azerbaijan relations are bound by commonalities of faith, culture and history and strengthened by mutual trust and convergence of views on regional and global affairs,” the FO statement said.
The Minister further said that frequent leadership level exchanges highlight the friendly relations between the two countries and contribute to close multilateral cooperation for the mutual benefit of the people of Pakistan and Azerbaijan.
On the other hand, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) will meet Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar today (Wednesday) to raise the issue of approving third import of troubled LNG from Azerbaijan firm SOCAR. United Kingdom.
