We have reported that Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova continues her visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia taken to join a general assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly. As part of the visit’s itinerary, Mrs Gafarova met with the leaders of parliaments of several countries and the AIPA Secretary General on 22 November.

There were the conversations with the leaders of the National Assembly and House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Thailand, the Parliament of the Republic of Singapore and the National Assembly of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, correspondingly, Chuan Leekpai, Tan Chuan-Jin and Ganesh Prasad Timilsina. Sahiba Gafarova told her colleagues that such platforms as this one gave fine opportunities to meet, continue the dialogues and discuss aspects of bilateral and multilateral co-operation.

Azerbaijan’s close attention paid to the international co-operation thematic in general was stressed duly. Mrs Gafarova, besides, brought up the remarkable initiatives of our country that are contributing to keeping peace internationally as well as promoting the growth of global co-operation and development. She was especially particular as she told the interlocutors about the Azerbaijani chairmanship in the Non-Aligned Movement, the world’s second-largest international organisation after the UN only. According to Mrs Gafarova, President Ilham Aliyev of the Republic of Azerbaijan motioned, as Chair of the NAM, development of the parliamentary aspect of the organisation and the NAM’s Parliamentary Network was established in Madrid in November 2021. The first conference of the PN took place in Baku in June the current year. It was mentioned that delegates of more than 40 countries and 8 international organisations had been present at the Baku Conference, during which the Baku Declaration was adopted and the Parliamentary Network’s State on Working Modalities, official logo and flag were chosen and affirmed. The next conference of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement is scheduled to take place in Manama in March next year. Information about the preparations being done for this event was disclosed during the meetings.

Furthermore, the significance of co-operation under the auspices of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement was emphasised. They also talked about Azerbaijan’s steps to ensure this organisation’s institutional growth.

Besides, the Chair of the Milli Majlis told about the liberation of our country’s lands and restoration of her territorial integrity after almost three decades of Armenian occupation in 2020. The new and post-war situation established across our region and Azerbaijan’s current endeavours to restore her provinces delivered from the invaders’ grip were not omitted from the conversations, either.

Sahiba Gafarova thanked the AIPA, Singapore and Thailand for the favourable response to the AIPA observer status application of the Milli Majlis – the response that was not slow in coming. She said as Head of the NAM PN that the Network was prepared to build active ties with the supranational parliamentary entities including the AIPA so as to make a contribution to the achievement of the common goals.

Chairman of the National Assembly and House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Thailand Chuan Leekpai told Chair of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova that he had listened to her speech at the General Assembly attentively and had learned a lot from it about Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani-Armenian relations.

Thailand is intent on continuing the progress of the inter-parliamentary relations with our country despite the geographic remoteness. Putting a friendship group together can help broaden our connexions, in the opinion of Mr Leekpai who voiced Thailand’s interest in taking part in the work of the NAM Parliamentary Network.

Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Singapore Tan Chuan-Jin said that such gatherings as the AIPA General Assembly posed good opportunities to discuss co-operation issues. Singapore gives much attention to international co-operation matters, according to Tan Chuan-Jin who proceeded to express Singapore’s interest in furthering the connexions with the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan.

Chairman of the National Assembly of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, then, shared his thoughts about the successful Azerbaijani chairmanship in the NAM, which, to his mind, only adds to the effectiveness of the work that the Movement is doing. Ganesh Prasad Timilsina congratulated Azerbaijan on the move to establish the Network and said that Nepal was going to increase its activity within its frameworks.

Secretary General of the AIPA Nguyen Tuong Van gave Sahiba Gafarova a thorough account of the work and workings of the Assembly, saying then that it normally took 2-3 years to consider an observer status application. And yet, the application that came from Azerbaijan was endorsed forthwith, so the Milli Majlis has the observer status in the AIPA now.

Other matters of shared interest and concern were discussed at those conversations as well.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis