Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova has had a meeting with America Valentina Perez Davila, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Head of the Venezuela-Azerbaijan friendship and inter-parliamentary relations group.

The existing bilateral and multilateral co-operation between Azerbaijan and Venezuela was brought up at the meeting. Also, the 30^th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relations falling for this year and the presence of opportunities to continue deepening the relations further were mentioned as the conversation went on. They talked about the usefulness of reciprocal visits for the discussion of such opportunities. They also underlined the exceptional role played by visits, including high and summit-level visits, in the progress of our links.

The effective co-operation between the two countries in international organisations and the content with our collaboration and mutual support in the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement were spoken of as well. Venezuela has supported all the initiatives made by Azerbaijan whilst our country was chairing the Non-Aligned Movement.

The guest conveyed the greetings of Speaker of the National Assembly of Venezuela Jorge Rodrigues Gomez to the Speaker of the Milli Majlis before saying that her country attached great importance to the relations with Azerbaijan.

Further, they talked about the favourable role of the supreme legislatures in the expansion of the ties between our countries; they also reviewed issues of inter-parliamentary co-operation. The significance of the connexions between the friendship groups of both parliaments and of the reciprocal visits and co-operation in international parliamentary organisations was underscored in this regard.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova informed the visitor of the institutional growth of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement, established on the initiative of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and of the work being done on reaching the goals on the Network’s agenda. The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Venezuela praised the work of the Parliamentary Network and mentioned her country’s active involvement in it.

There were comments about the global climate change and its substantial impact on the developing countries. The guest congratulated Azerbaijan on the successful hosting of such a major international event as the COP29 was.

Also, the Speaker of the Milli Majlis told about the current situation in the region following Azerbaijan’s de-occupation of her lands and restoration of her sovereignty. About a million Azerbaijanis had spent long years forced to live as refugees and IDPs as a result of the Armenian occupation; however, the former IDP are already returning to their homes.

They also exchanged views upon other matters of shared interest.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis