The chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Tahir Mirkishili had a meeting on 22 September with the visiting delegation led by Franc Bogovič, chairman of the Intergroup on Rural, Mountainous and Remote Areas (RUMRA) and Smart Villages of the European Parliament.

Following the greetings, Mr Mirkishili mentioned the rising Azerbaijani-European relations, adding that our country was one of the principal partners to the European Union and that it was important to solidify the inter-parliamentary co-operation.

Mr Mirkishili spoke of the significance of broadening the economic links between Azerbaijan and the EU; he referred the several joint projects accomplished successfully before moving on to the subjects of trade expansion and growth of interaction in the IT field. Also, he brought up the weighty role of our country in maintaining energy security, be it regionally or on the world scale.

Azerbaijan had freed her lands – her lands truly – with her own resources after thirty years of Armenian occupation and is now busy with the huge work being done to reclaim and restore those lands, Mr Mirkishili continued. Though this process is hindered much by the vast minefield that the aggressor, the Armenia, had planted there, new infrastructure is being created, transport lines are being laid and new airports are under construction over there.

Tahir Mirkishili informed the guests of the implementation of the smart town and smart village projects in the lands released from the invaders’ grip. He stressed that those undertakings, which meet the relevant international standards, had already made sure that a number of households had moved into the village of Agali built along those lines in the Zanghilan Province. Such projects are central to the continued improvement of living standards and prosperity of our compatriots already resident in those areas, according to the parliamentary committee chairman.

The part that Azerbaijan plans in the networking between the East and the West and in maintaining energy security was underlined then, with Mr Mirkishili going further to tell the MEPs about the efforts our State is taking to build a new transport infrastructure in the liberated territories and to raise investments for them.

The chairman of the RUMRA and Smart Villages Intergroup of the Europarliament Franc Bogovič thanked for the meeting and the interesting conversation before underlining the importance of the continuing growth of the mutually beneficial co-operation between the EU and Azerbaijan. He also talked about the opportunities with reach to bolster the two-way connexions in general and, in particular, in agriculture and maintaining food security.

As he was talking about the significance of the already-mentioned smart village and town projects, Mr Bogovič pointed out that modern technologies helped improve living conditions and praised the establishment of such communities in the de-occupied provinces of Azerbaijan. The intergroup he led followed the relevant experience of our country with intense interest, Mr Bogovič added.

The MPs Tural Ganjaliyev, Vugar Bayramov and Mazahir Efendiyev as well as our ambassador to Belgium Vaghif Sadigov who were taking part in the meeting shared their opinions about the progress of the two-way relations, the energy and food-security co-operation and other matters of shared interest.

The participants of the meeting included, amongst all others, MP Mahir Abbaszade, the EP delegation’s Hannes Heide, Engin Eroğlu, Marin Miletić, Adam Mukhtar, Alessandro Da Rold, Angele Kedaitiene, Rafet Kurnaz, Gencay Koyunbaşoğlu and Ethem Güngör.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis