Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova has had a tête-à-tête meeting with Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin who is in Azerbaijan on an official visit. The meeting that has taken on 26 September took the form of an exchange of views upon various aspects of the relations between our two states and their legislatures.

The tête-à-tête was followed up with an expanded meeting attended by the delegations.

Welcoming the guest and the delegation accompanying him, the Chair of the Milli Majlis talked about the high level of trade and economic, transport, energy, humanitarian and otherwise interaction achieved thanks to the energetic political dialogue in the 30 years since the establishment of our political relations back in 1992. She said that we owe much in the way of the growth of the bilateral connexions to the mutual trust amongst the state leaders Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin – a well as to their frequent meetings. More than 250 inter-state and inter-governmental documents embracing the whole large thematic spectre have been signed to date. The Allied Interaction Declaration that was signed during President Ilham Aliyev’s official visit to the Russian Federation in February this year had elevated out relations to a new stratum; it could be safely said that that Declaration encompassed all the areas of bilateral co-operation with the inter-parliamentary linkage being no exception, Mrs Gafarova was saying.

The upwardly dynamics of the bilateral economic relations are pleasing, too; the same applies to the tremendously important humanitarian co-operation, according to Speaker Sahiba Gafarova. The Days of Azerbaijani Culture held in Moscow with the backing of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation helmed by Azerbaijan’s First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva had contributed across the board to making the broad audiences familiar with the heritage of Azerbaijan.

Broaching the roles of the Azerbaijani and Russian parliaments in the furtherance of the inter-state relations then, Sahiba Gafarova mentioned the fruitful interaction amongst the legislatures under the roofs of international parliamentary organisations. The Milli Majlis and the Federal Assembly are bridged by virtue of a permanent bilateral inter-parliamentary commission, the very existence of which spells the high standards set by our relations.

The special role of inter-regional collaboration in the overall progress of the inter-state bonds was mentioned, too. According to the Chair of the Milli Majlis, more than 70 Russian Federation subjects are engaged in foreign trade with Azerbaijan while trading, economic, scientific & technical and cultural co-operation agreements have been signed with approximately 20 RF regions.

Going further, the parties shared opinions about Azerbaijan’s having de-occupied her lands in the 44 days’ Patriotic War, the implementation of the Trilateral Statement and the fruitless provocations on the part of Armenia. Sahiba Gafarova spoke of Azerbaijan’s having released her provinces from the Armenian provocation of close to 30 years in 2020, the historic victory of our country and the restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. She also underlined that our state had – all by herself – ensured the implementation of the four 1993 resolutions of the UN Security Council demanding, as is known full well, immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the armed forces of Armenia from the Azerbaijani territories they had captured. Directly after the liberation of those lands Azerbaijan had begun large-scale operations to restore and revive them and, importantly, that work has been and is being done on Azerbaijan’s own expense only. Azerbaijan is carrying out all her assumed obligations to provide regional peace. Rather regrettably, however, Armenia is shirking its duty to honour in full the requirements of the Trilateral Declaration of 10 November 2020 and more – Armenia is attempting to taint the peace process. Mrs Gafarova emphasised the Armenian provocation of 12 September 2022 before pointing out that the responsibility for it and other provocations rested on the military-political leadership of Armenia. Indeed, Armenia ought to honour its assumed obligations in order that constant peace and stability can be restored to the region, Sahiba Gafarova concluded.

Thanking for the warm reception, Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin went on to talk about the dynamic advance of the interaction amongst our countries. He voiced his appreciation of the present-day state of the trade and of the humanitarian as well as educational links.

As regards the growth prospects of our inter-parliamentary bonds, it is important to attain their greater progress, in the opinion of Mr Volodin who remarked that the Allied Interaction Declaration marked a very serious level achieved in the field of strategic partnership. It is important to move the inter-parliamentary connexions forward in the same direction as well, he said before underscoring the utmost importance of meetings, a continued dialogue and liaison for the expansion of the two-way inter-parliamentary interaction.

The Chairman of the State Duma proceeded to opine about the implementation of the Trilateral Declaration signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia to herald the end to the 44-day Patriotic War crowned with the victory of our country.

The other participants of this meeting included First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis Ali Huseynli, the Deputy Chairs of the Milli Majlis Adil Aliyev and Fazail Ibrahimli, the parliamentary committee chairmen Samad Seyidov, Ziyafet Asgarov, Siyavush Novruzov, Bakhtiyar Aliyev and Tahir Mirkishili, the leader of the Azerbaijan-Russia inter-parliamentary connexions group Nizami Safarov, the chairman of the Russian Community of Azerbaijan MP Mikhail Zabelin, Chief of the Milli Majlis Staff Farid Hajiyev and both countries’ ambassadors Polad Bulbuloglu and Mikhail Bocharnikov.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis