Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met with the newly-appointed Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Azerbaijan Fergus Auld on 19 October.

The leader of the Azerbaijani legislature greeted the British diplomatist, congratulated him on the new posting and wished him success during his tenure in our country. She also mentioned favourably Mr Auld’s fluency in the Azerbaijani language as demonstrated when he was handing his credentials to President Ilham Aliyev a few days ago. That was a sign of the British ambassador’s respect for the language and culture of our language, in the opinion of Mrs Gafarova.

The bonds of friendship and partnership are progressing between our two states whose diplomatic relations are turning thirty this year, incidentally. Those three decades past have seen the political, economic, humanitarian and otherwise co-operation evolve dynamically with reliance upon mutual respect and support. The economic ties constitute one of the staple components of the relationship, too. Whilst one of the top trading partners of Azerbaijan, Great Britain is also the country with the largest investments ever put in the Azerbaijani economy. In this context, Mrs Gafarova mentioned the significance of our energy-sector interaction, describing BP as one of the dependable energy partners of Azerbaijan and pointing out our country’s substantial contribution to the European energy security.

The close interaction maintained between our legislatures represents one of the weightier elements of the bilateral and multilateral connexions of our states, according to Sahiba Gafarova who mentioned her visit to the UK on 12-13 July this year and told Fergus Auld about the conversations held during that visit. That was, by the way, the first ever visit of a parliamentary leader in the area of our inter-parliamentary relations, Mrs Gafarova stressed before moving on to another meeting with Sir Lindsay Hoyle she had had on the sidelines of the recent summit of the G20 parliamentary speakers in Indonesia.

Our legislatures also keep up a frank dialogue under the aegis of the international parliamentary organisations. The parliaments’ friendship groups act as a bridge amongst them through their intensive contacts, dialogue and opinion exchanges and so are crucial for the progress of the inter-parliamentary connexions, Mrs Gafarova continued. She went further to praise the statement made by the head of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Azerbaijan Bob Blackman that deplored the Armenian provocations but supported the territorial wholeness of Azerbaijan.

Mrs Gafarova talked about the legislative work and line-up of the Milli Majlis, of the political party representation in it and about other things then.

Mrs Auld was made aware of the new situation established across our region after Azerbaijan had made her national territory whole again. Mrs Gafarova turned the British diplomatist’s attention to the fact that restoration of the freed lands and taking the ex-IDP back there made one of the topmost post-conflict priorities of our country. The large-scale restoration of those territories is held back dramatically by the numerous mines planted by Armenia, though, Mrs Gafarova remarked before saying her thanks for the British help with de-mining as well as restoring and rebuilding of those areas. Though a victim of occupation and despite the fact that it was she that de-occupied her lands, Azerbaijan has spent the two years past taking considerable pains to ensure lasting peace and stability in the region. Moreover, Azerbaijan has approached Armenia on the subject of normalisation of relations and has also offered to sign a peace treaty that would be based on five international law principles. Mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as delimitation and demarcation of borders will open a path to peace and sustainability in our part of the world, it was pointed out.

The borderline provocations on Armenia’s part were mentioned, too. Madam Speaker said that signing a peace treaty by the two states would become a possibility providing that Armenia would avoid making moves deranging the normalisation process but would execute the political will and take practical steps in that direction. This, in turn, is the only way to achieve enduring peace and stability in our region.

The Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Azerbaijan Fergus Auld thanked for the sincere reception and exhaustive information supplied to him before, in turn, telling Sahiba Gafarova about the meetings he had held since the beginning of his tenure in our country. He gravitated on the great impression he had been left with following his encounter with President Ilham Aliyev.

Mr Auld spoke about the extensive British-Azerbaijani co-operation and the sound opportunities to take them further and wider. He emphasised the dynamic joint operations in the energy sector and Azerbaijan’s considerable role in maintaining the energy security of Europe. Our country’s remarkable efforts to implement alternative and renewable energy generation projects were mentioned as well. That area, in general, is a noteworthy part of the two-way relationship, according to the British ambassador.

The visit of the Chair of the Milli Majlis to the UK was a serious step in terms of furthering the inter-parliamentary connexions, in the opinion of Mr Auld who then voiced his appreciation of Sahiba Gafarova’s having taken part in the farewell ceremony for the late Queen Elisabeth II.

Fergus Auld proceeded to put across his thoughts about the significance of peace and security in our region and the necessity of a peace treaty inked between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Other topics of shared interest were covered, too, as the conversation drew on.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis