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Pakistan and Azerbaijan fortify their ties

Pakistan and Azerbaijan represented at the meeting on 23 January 2025 in Islamabad. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan
Pakistan and Azerbaijan represented at the meeting on 23 January 2025 in Islamabad. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan
Written by Aparna Rawal

The 8th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Pakistan Joint Commission took place in Islamabad when the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Elnur Mammadov, visited Pakistan on 23rdJanuary.

This was the fourth round of consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both nations which was held in Islamabad on 23rd January.

On the same day, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari also met with Azerbaijan's Minister of Defence Industry, Vugar Mustafayev in Islamabad. The two nations have reaffirmed their concerted efforts and determination for bolstering joint collaboration in areas such as trade, energy, air connectivity, and “people-to-people exchanges”.

The Pakistan President reiterated Pakistan’s deep relations shared with Azerbaijan, culturally and historically. He stressed on the need to increase person to person contacts, boost tourism and trade to advocate a regional economic cooperation.

He mentioned the operationalization of direct flights between Pakistan and Azerbaijan, which he stated would encourage people-to-people ties. It is reported that over 72,000 Pakistanis have visited Azerbaijan in 2024 for business and tourism purposes, which indicates a 25% increase from the figure of 55,000 travellers in 2023.

Evidently, the Azeri Minister highlighted the symbiotic relation between the two nations, while expressing the gratitude for Pakistan's political support to Azerbaijan.

It is an expected dialogue as both nations have not only supported each other’s political narrative, whether it involved the Azeri discourse on Armenia or Pakistan’s fake propaganda on Kashmir but have always tagged one another in unison to reinforce each other’s efforts on international scale. Apart from known support, which Pakistan enjoys from Azerbaijan, Turkey is also known to back Pakistan in its interests and political narrative.

Pakistan and Azerbaijan represented at the meeting on 23 January 2025 in Islamabad. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan
Pakistan and Azerbaijan represented at the meeting on 23 January 2025 in Islamabad. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan

The symbiotic tag teamwork

Pakistan and Azerbaijan relations are a product of a significant strategic alliance. It is important to mention that Pakistan was the second country to acknowledge the independence of Azerbaijan in 1991. The relations between the two nations were established on 9th June1992, followed by the Embassy of  Pakistan opening in Baku on 12th March, 1993 and Azerbaijan establishing its Mission in Islamabad on 24th August 1997.

Pakistan, determined to build an alliance, was also one of the first nations to visit Baku officially, and has had several official exchanges with Azerbaijan since its independence. The high level meetings began when Former Pakistani President Sardar Farooq Ahmad Leghari visited Baku in 1995, followed by the visit of former President Heydar Aliyev to Pakistan in 1996; former President General Pervez Musharraf visited Baku in 2004, followed by President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Islamabad in 2005.

In 2003, a defence agreement was made between the two countries, which included annual joint military drills, specifically for special force units.

The military and defence cooperation has been further bolstered by joint exercises, colloquiums, engagement in official meetings, and military agreements. In February 2014, a military cooperation agreement was signed between the two states in Islamabad. Between 2015 and 2016 the iterations of the document were updated at the Working Group Meetings.

In 2018, Pakistani Brigadier General Reyhan visited Azerbaijan to discuss bilateral military cooperation. The agenda for the meeting primarily focussed on promotion and confidence building measures for both armies. 

On 25th September 2024, Azerbaijan disclosed that its air force had officially assimilated Pakistan’s fourth-generation JF-17 Thunder Block III fighter jets. The office of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev stated, “These advanced, lightweight, all-weather aircraft, designed for both day and night operations, were developed as a joint venture between Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation of China”. Azerbaijan is the fourth nation to acquire JF-17 aircraft from Pakistan, after Myanmar, Nigeria, and Iraq. It is evident that Azerbaijan aims to expand on its military partnerships, and it is probable that it hopes that by solidifying ties with Pakistan could present it with opportunities in South Asia.

In 2014, the two nations signed a bilateral military cooperation agreement, and Pakistan trained several military units in Azerbaijan. In 2021, the Azeris held combined military exercises with Türkiye and Pakistan. In 2017, Pakistan signed a trilateral agreement on regional cooperation with Azerbaijan and Türkiye. The three nations pledged to cooperate with each other with regards to maintaining stability, security, and to promote development through their partnerships. The three clearly outlined that “their territories shall not be used for activities against each other”.

To further assure Baku, both Ankara and Islamabad signed the “trilateral Islamabad Declaration” in 2021 to display solidarity with Azerbaijan after the 2020 44-Day War in Nagorno-Karabakh against Armenia.

Post the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, both Azerbaijan and Armenia tried to boost their military modernization programs. In a race to outdo the other, Azerbaijan sought Pakistan while Armenia turned towards India for the purchase of arms and military equipment. Since then, Armenia has become the largest importer of weapons from India acquiring “finished” weapon systems like Akash air defence missile systems, Pinaka multi-launch rocket systems and 155mm artillery, guns among others.

As a result, the Armenian and Indian ties have grown deeper as Pakistan continued to strengthen the Azeri clout.

Both nations locked horns over the race to influence the South Caucasus. India has aligned with Armenia for cooperation in bilateral and multilateral arrangements to tackle the strategic connectivity projects in the South Caucasus. Due to this arrangement, Iran gave Armenia access to the Iranian ports for the its trade with India. Similarly, a platform for Armenia-Greece-France-India quadrilateral cooperation was proposed by Greece.

While Armenia and Greece resonate with India, Azerbaijan decided to up its stake by signing a $1.6 billion deal with Pakistan to obtain a number of JF-17 Block III aircraft in February 2024. The deal went through and in October 2024 the Azeris had already integrated the jets. Through this deal Pakistan will cover pilot training and armaments for the fighter jet. JF-17 was developed by China and Pakistan jointly and the Block III variant has better agility, higher combat capabilities, and better stealth characteristics than the jets in Azerbaijan’s arsenal prior. The JF-17 Block III can carry electro-optical/infrared sensors and self-defence jammers on external pods. The aircraft has been designed to carry Chinese weapons on its seven hardpoints, including the PL-5 short-range air-to-air missile, LS-6 “Thunderstone” GPS-guided glide bombs, and YJ-12 supersonic and YJ-83 subsonic anti-ship missiles. With better avionics and active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, the Block III variant is highly adaptable, as it can be loaded out with anti-ship, air-to-air, and air-to-surface missiles, as well as both guided and unguided bombs.

Earlier, Russia was the key arms supplier to Azerbaijan. However, post its war against Armenia in 2020 and the signing of new gas contracts with European countries, Azerbaijan began to reformulate its relationship with Russia. Azerbaijan refused to support Moscow’s war against Ukraine. The war became a turning point and since then Baku tried to diversify its military purchases to cut its dependability on Russia.

As expected, the JF-17 jets will be substituted in for the existing fleet of Russian-made MiG-29 fighters in Azerbaijan’s air force. It is ascertained that the JF-17 Block III can counter the Russian-made S-300 air defence system. The price of one JF-17 aircraft is estimated at $25 million.

 

On basis of the evolving security landscape of the South Caucasus that Iran views Azerbaijan as a strong component in alliance with Turkey and Israel as a threat to its interests in South Caucasus.

Pakistan foresees Azerbaijan as an important ally which would be essential to countering Indian diplomatic efforts in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan is vital to Pakistan’s interest as it has become a key proponent in the energy transit corridor in the Black Sea, South Caucasus, and Europe, and it also holds the potential for trans-regional energy cooperation with South Asia. For both Azerbaijan and Pakistan, this partnership will allow them to leverage their international positions, buttressed by their tag team effort.

About the author

Aparna Rawal

Aparna Rawal is an independent research analyst and writer specializing in Af/Pak region and counter-terrorism. She was the former Editor-in-chief for Voice of Baloch. She possesses MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from Annamalai University, India.

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