As part of her current official visit to the Republic of Serbia, Speaker of the Milli Mejlis Sahiba Gafarova has met with Speaker of the National Assembly Vladimir Orlić on 25 May.

After exchanging greetings Mr Orlić began by sharing his impressions from his trip to Azerbaijan on the 16^th of this month, his participation in the meeting of Milli Mejlis celebrating the 100^th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev, a visionary politician and great statesman, the national leader, and his meeting with Sahiba Gafarova. Mr Orlić congratulated the head of the Milli Majlis on the high level of arrangement of the jubilee event.

Speaking about the progress of the friendship and strategic partnership between the two countries, Mr Orlić said that the mutual relations and reciprocal visits of the two Heads of State have made it possible to advance the relationship further and that such visits will continue. Both sides are seriously working on the implementation of the agreements reached so far, Mr Orlić remarked.

Our countries co-operate in various fields and are also in solidarity with each other when it comes to sovereignty and territorial integrity. The high-level political dialogue stimulates the economic ties and, incidentally, there are excellent opportunities for further deepening of the energy ties, environmental collaboration and investments.

It was said regarding the inter-parliamentary relations’ prospects that Mrs Gafarova's current visit to Serbia was the first visit of the Head of the Azerbaijani Parliament to that country and was certain to ensure a continued intensification of the relations. The Memorandum of Inter-parliamentary Understanding to be signed between the Narodna Skupština and Milli Majlis during the current visit will raise our inter-parliamentary relations to a new level. At the same time, Mr Orlić stressed the importance of friendship groups and reciprocal visits for the development of inter-parliamentary co-operation.

Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova thanked the Serbian counterpart for the hospitality extended to her and once again voiced her appreciation of his participation on 16 May in the special Milli Majlis sitting on the occasion of National Leader Heydar Aliyev’s centenary as well as for the interesting speech that Mr Orlić delivered at that gathering.

Mrs Gafarova remarked the satisfaction stemming from the Azerbaijani-Serbian friendship and strategic partnership. To quote President Ilham Aliyev of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Serbia is one of Azerbaijan’s closest friends in Europe. The amity between the two Heads of State ensure to a considerable extent the rapid advancement of our inter-state relations, which is crystal clear from the fact that both President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Serbia in November last year and his Serbian colleague Aleksandar Vučić’s trip to Azerbaijan in December were successful.

Azerbaijan and Serbia have consistently supported each other on matters of principle, both bilaterally and internationally, and have always demonstrated solidarity on both planes.

The friendly links between the two nations provide a solid foundation for the development of interstate relations. Installation of the monument to Azerbaijan’s National Leader Heydar Aliyev in Belgrade, of the bust of the outstanding Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli in Novi Sad and of the monument to the remarkable representative of the Serbian nation Nikola Tesla in Baku are the manifestations of respect our nations have for each other's values. Saying this, Mrs Gafarova also mentioned the signing of a twinning memorandum between Shusha, the cultural capital of Azerbaijan and Novi Pazar in March 2023.

There have been reciprocal visits of our parliamentary delegations to date; there have also been their joint participation in international events. The friendship groups in both legislatures bridging the legislatures. The co-operation of these groups and of parliamentary committees of the two sides can be harnessed to continue strengthening the ties between our MPs.

Furthermore, Madam Speaker told her colleague of the situation in our region since the closure of the 44 days’ Patriotic War, the large-scale restoration of the de-occupied provinces of Azerbaijan and the fact that our country had suffered from double standards prominent in today’s world throughout the thirty years of the occupation of 20 per cent of the Azerbaijani territory. Resolutions of the UN Security Council regarding certain countries take a couple of years to carry out whereas international resolutions stipulating unconditional cessation of the capture of our territories had never been acted upon at all – that is, they hadn’t, until Azerbaijan did it herself in 2020 as she enforced the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council as well as international law principles and norms, restoring her territorial integrity and, whilst at it, also restoring the historic justice that had been trampled theretofore.

Right now, Azerbaijan is busy building up the freed Garabagh and East Zangazur; modern towns and villages are under construction there; besides, Azerbaijan has geared into motion the ‘Great Return’ programme envisaging putting the former IDP back in their native lands.

Azerbaijan, although an occupation victim, is making efforts to ensure long-term peace and stability in its region still. Armenia has been invited to sign a peace treaty, for instance – one which would lead to that regional peace and stability, said Mrs Gafarova.

Other topics of shared interest were talked over as well, after which the Milli Majlis delegation were shown around the building of the Narodna Skupština and Sahiba Gafarova left an entry in the memorable book.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis