Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova has had meetings with the Head of the People’s Majlis of Maldives Mohamed Aslam and Chairman of the Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, both of whom are in our country to take part in the 14^th Plenary Session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) in Baku.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova told the guests that she was pleased to greet them in our country; she then referred to the APA as a multilateral platform useful for promotion of co-operation, dialogues and solidarity amongst the Assembly Member States. She also mentioned the discussion at the 14^th Plenary Session, attended by the parliamentary delegations of approximately 40 countries and delegates of several international parliamentary organisations, of the problems concerning the modern world.

Thoughts about the role of parliamentary diplomacy in international relations and legislative assemblies’ influence on global processes were voiced at the meetings. They also spoke of co-operation opportunities presenting themselves in international parliamentary organisations. Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova mentioned the relevant importance of the Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Network established upon the instance of the President of Azerbaijan.

The guests offered their congratulations on the successful conduct of the 14^th Plenary Session and shared favourable impressions from their visits to our country and its capital city of Baku.

Also, those meetings saw exchanges of views upon co-operation options for their countries in a number of fields.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis