Pakistan, Azerbaijan agree for LNG procurement on flexible terms

Lahore: Pakistan has signed a framework agreement with Azerbaijan for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) procurement on flexible terms.

The agreement signed between Pakistan LNG Limited and State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) in Lahore today (Monday) was witnessed by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said the life of this agreement is one year which is extendable to one more year.

He stated: “Under the agreement, Azerbaijan will offer one Cargo of LNG each month and it will be up to Pakistan to either accept the cargo or not,” adding that there will be no financial penalty if Pakistan does not accept the cargo.

Prime Minister termed the agreement as a major milestone in the fraternal relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan. He especially thanked the President of Azerbaijan for playing a pivotal role in this agreement.

Alluding to his recent productive and fruitful discussions with the President of Azerbaijan, Shehbaz Sharif stated: “We have given approval to Azeri airline to land in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.  This is a big step forward to promote tourism and investment and exchange of delegations between the two countries”.

The premier continued to say that an Azeri delegation of horticulture experts is also arriving in Pakistan today on his invitation. We want to learn from their expertise to make the landscape of Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Lahore as beautiful as that of Baku.

On the occasion, the Prime Minister also touched upon the matter of recent increase in the power tariff saying it was done so under the agreement reached with the IMF.

He however clarified that this increase will not burden about sixty three percent of the total domestic consumers. 31% of the consumers have also been given partial subsidy.

In his remarks on the occasion, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan said: “Both the countries are deepening their cooperation in diverse fields including energy, defence, IT and transport”.

The two sides are also negotiating a preferential trade agreement the ambassador added, expressing the confidence that they will be successful in this regard as well.