Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova who is in the Kingdom of Morocco on an official visit had a meeting with President of the House of Representatives of the Moroccan Parliament Rashid Talbi El Alami on 14 December.

Rashid Talbi El Alami greeted Sahiba Gafarova cordially and thanked her for having accepted the invitation to visit morocco. Azerbaijan is a fraternal country to Morocco, according to Mr El Alami who underlined the importance of broadening the inter-state relations. He also pointed at the significance of bilateral economic co-operation and of ties between the business circles of our countries.

It was said during the conversation that Azerbaijan and Morocco support each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity and, very importantly, act together and show solidarity in international organisations. The Speaker of the House of Representatives also congratulated Azerbaijan on the restoration of her sovereignty.

As he spoke of his visits to Azerbaijan, Rashid Talbi El Alami fondly recollected his participation in the Baku Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in June 2022 and the special sitting of the Milli Majlis honouring the centenary of the Azerbaijani people’s National Leader Heydar Aliyev in May 2023. Also, Mr El Alami said kind words about our country.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova voiced the appreciation of the hospitality before emphasising the importance of the political, economic and humanitarian connexions between Azerbaijan and Morocco.

The significant role of co-operation between the Azerbaijani and Moroccan parliaments in the development of bilateral relations was emphasised as well. Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said that the ties between our legislatures were developing. Besides, it was noted that friendship groups functioned successfully in both parliaments, and that our delegations supported each other in inter-parliamentary organisations.

They also discussed the co-operation between parliamentary committees and staffs, and considered inter-parliamentary collaboration in legal, economic and humanitarian matters, on family values and women’s affairs. Inter-parliamentary interaction concerning climatic changes was talked over, too, given that Azerbaijan is going to host the 29^th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Rashid Talbi El Alami congratulated the Azerbaijani side on having gained the right to host this event.

The Speaker of the Milli Majlis then brought up the importance of interacting under the auspices of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement, established upon the instance of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, recalling appreciatively Morocco’s top-level participation in all the Network conferences held to date. Besides, Mrs Gafarova thanked Mr El Alami for the participation in the NAM Baku Conference and the special sitting of the Milli Majlis on the occasion of the centenary of the National Leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev.

As she spoke about the presidential elections due in Azerbaijan on 7 February 2024, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova described them as historic, with their chief distinguishing feature going to be that they will be conducted in the whole sovereign territory of Azerbaijan.

It was said then that Azerbaijani lands had been under Armenian occupation for 30 years. International organisations passed many decrees and resolutions in those 30 years demanding immediate and unconditional liberation of those lands but the documents had remained on paper – until, that is, Azerbaijan freed her lands from the invaders with her own force and at the cost of the blood of 3,000 shahids.

Then the Chair of the Milli Mejlis spoke about the new realities in the region after the victory of our country in the Patriotic War. Mrs Gafarova stated that separatism was put an end to in Garabagh and our sovereignty was fully restored as a result of the local anti-terrorist measures successfully completed in September this year. She thanked the Moroccan side for the unwavering support to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.

Sahiba Gafarova also spoke about the measures taken in recent days to build trust between Azerbaijan and Armenia. There are currently no obstacles to the signing of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Mrs Gafarova remarked, adding that she hopes it is going to be signed in the near future.

Other matters of shared interest were discussed, too, as the conversation went on.

The other officials who attended the meeting included the Head of the Milli Majlis Inter-Governmental Group for inter-parliamentary connexions with Morocco Imamverdi Ismaylov, the Group’s member Aghalar Valiyev and Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Morocco Nazim Samedov.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis