Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova who is in Samarkand for the 54^th plenary sitting of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS IPA) had a meeting with Chair of the Federation Council of Russian Federation’s Federal Assembly Valentina Matviyenko in the course of this visit.

The IPA is an important platform to fall back upon to deepen the CIS republics’ bilateral and multilateral connexions whilst the co-operation going to that end serves to make the relations stronger yet, Mrs Gafarova was saying during the conversation.

She went on to touch upon the inter-parliamentary relations of our two states and underlined the relations’ unique role in this context. The pertaining activities of the friendship groups of the Milli Majlis and the Federal Assembly as well as the endeavours of the two-way inter-parliamentary commission deserve every praise, according to Mrs Gafarova. Such platforms as the IPA make it possible to discussion various issues and aspects of the on-going co-operation.

Then, the current situation in our region was brought up, with the Chair of the Milli Majlis saying that it had been two years since Azerbaijan freed its formerly occupied territories. The situation in the South Caucasus is a whole new one; Azerbaijan is pushing forth the fast-paced restoration and rebuilding of its freed lands. The erstwhile IDPs have begun to move back to their native parts. Life has been relaunched in the village of Agali where the secondary school’s bell rang for the first time in September this year.

Armenia had completely destroyed our towns and villages during their occupation period; the current mining of those areas by Armenia hinders their revival and rebuilding and the minefield maps obtained from Armenia with such difficulty are only 25 per cent accurate. The mine blasts that have occurred to date have either killed or wounded more than 260 citizens of Azerbaijan, according to Mrs Gafarova. She brought to Mrs Matviyenko’s attention specifically the fact that Armenia had continued its mining even after the war was over. Mines manufactured in Armenia in 2021 have been found in those provinces to date. And another attempt of Armenia to mine Azerbaijani territories, made on 13 September, resulted in hostilities along the conventional border, Mrs Gafarova continued.

Then, the Chair of the Milli Majlis reiterated Azerbaijan’s having fulfilled all the paragraphs of the Trilateral Declaration, adding that Armenia should do the same for its part. Mrs Gafarova underlined the necessity of starting up the transport and communication lines connecting Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan and of creating the Zangazur Corridor. Azerbaijan has invited Armenia to sign a peace accord already. After all, as President Ilham Aliyev said, there is a limit to our patience, too. Signing a peace accord can lead to constant stability and security in the region and is what Armenia needs before all the other parties concerned. The Armenian leadership must comprehend this.

Sahiba Gafarova mentioned the visit that Chairman of the State Duma of Russian Federation’s Federal Assembly Vyacheslav Volodin had paid to Azerbaijan in September this year. She pointed at the significance of the visit itself as well as of the talks that had been held during it.

Valentina Matviyenko said she was pleased to meet Sahiba Gafarova and thanked her for the personal attendance of the meeting of the IPA Council and the IPA plenary session. Azerbaijan’s energetic involvement in the Assembly’s work and the Azerbaijani MPs’ fruitful input in the operations of the permanent commission were mentioned as well.

The Chair of the Federation Council expressed her country’s interest in furthering the friendly ties with Azerbaijan, saying that the heads of the two states were in constant communication and then, that mattered for the relations’ progress. The allied interaction declaration of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation is factoring into this field significantly, too. In the opinion of Mrs Matviyenko, it is necessary to promote the growth of bilateral trade and economic links as well as relations between both countries’ regions and provinces. She proceeded to share thoughts respective the 100^th anniversary of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev that Azerbaijan will be celebrating next year. Valentina Matviyenko said she remembered Heydar Aliyev with deep reverence and awe, adding that it was intended to mark the centenary of Heydar Aliyev to high standards also in Russian Federation.

Next, the head of the Federation Council let the leader of the Milli Majlis know what she thought about the matters related to the co-operation between the two legislative bodies.

Opinions were exchanged about other topics of shared interest, too, as the conversation went on.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis