Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova who is in the Kingdom of Bahrain on an official visit currently has had conversations with several heads of parliament there on 11 March.

The talks with the Chairs of the National Assemblies of the Republic of Malawi and the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, Catherine Gotani Hara and Adama Bictogo, respectively, and Deputy Chair of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus Valeriy Belsky revolved round inter-state and inter-parliamentary links, the importance of co-operating in international organisations and the significance of the dialogue within the boundaries of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

At those meetings, which, as Sahiba Gafarova stressed, were happening ahead of the 2^nd conference of the Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Network, the leader of the Milli Majlis referred to the successful Azerbaijani chairmanship in the NAM and the great pains taken to strengthen bilateral and multilateral collaboration upon that platform as well as to protect the interests of its member-states. Mrs Gafarova also told her colleagues of the weighty global-scale initiatives of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and mentioned the summit-level meeting that the NAM anti-COVID-19 Contact Group had had in Baku on 2 March this year. At that rally, too, the leader of Azerbaijan had come up with important suggestions and initiatives, Sahiba Gafarova remarked.

The NAM could also work as a vehicle behind development of inter-legislature relations amongst our countries, it was further said at those meetings. Azerbaijan as the NAM chairing state had raised the issue of promoting the organisation’s parliamentary dimension and so, the NAM Parliamentary Network was created upon the instance of President Ilham Aliyev, Mrs Gafarova continued.

The discourse in Manama also covered the inaugural rally of the Parliamentary Network in Madrid in November 2021, the Network’s 1^st conference, held in Baku in June 2022 and the 2^nd conference, due on 13 March, where possible ways to bolster the NAM PN’s institutional capacity further will be talked over together with extending parliamentary backing to global and national endeavours to recover after the pandemic.

Sahiba Gafarova reiterated that the PN was turning into a considerable site to advance multilateralism, dialogue and co-operation amongst legislatures, and that the NAM PN stood ready to contribute to achieving the common goals through collaboration with the other inter-parliamentary entities.

Furthermore, at all those encounters Sahiba Gafarova told of the new realia in our region in the light of the victorious conclusion of the 44 days’ Patriotic War. The large-scale restoration and revival of our de-occupied provinces continue at full speed; that includes modern infrastructure being created, new roads being laid, and airports being constructed over there. Successful arrangements, too, are being put in place for our former internally displaced people to go back to the lands of their forefathers. At the same time, Azerbaijan has put several proposals to Armenia with the view of these two states signing a peace pact whereas Armenia is committing provocations undermining regional peace and security – Mrs Gafarova provided her counterparts with ample information about all that.

The fruitful Azerbaijani chairmanship of the NAM PN was praised and the significance of the Azerbaijani initiatives including the one to birth the Movement’s parliamentary dimension was emphasised at the meetings.

Also, the parliament leaders exchanged views on a few other topics of shared interest.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis