Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met on 13 October with the delegation led by President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Thongloun Sisoulith who is in Baku on an official visit for the upcoming Summit Meeting of the Conference of Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Baku.

As she spoke about the significance of the guest’s attendance of the CICA Summit Meeting due in Baku, the Speaker of the Milli Majlis mentioned the high appraisal of Laos’ representation upon that platform. Speaker Sahiba Gafarova stressed that that was the first official visit of a Laotian Head of State to our country and expressed her confidence that it would open a new page in the bilateral relations.

The great significance of top-level contacts for the development of bilateral relations was mentioned during the conversation. The importance of the guest’s meetings with President Ilham Aliyev, of the negotiations held and the documents signed was emphasised in view of this.

They talked about the successful advancement of the ties between Azerbaijan and Laos in various areas. Our countries’ active co-operation and mutual support in international organisations and, especially, in the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement, were mentioned, too.

Views were exchanged as regards the relations between the Parliaments; the special role of the legislative bodies’ co-operation in the progress of the two countries’ bonds was pointed out. Also, they touched on the matters of co-operation in international parliamentary organisations, with it having been said that our Parliaments co-operate upon such important platforms as the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Network.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova informed the guest of the history and structure of the Milli Majlis and the workings of the parliamentary Friendship Groups. She remarked that the Milli Majlis of the current, seventh, convention had been formed consequent to the parliamentary elections held in 2024. Those elections are of immense historic significance as the ones held in the whole sovereign territory of the independent Azerbaijan.

The President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Thongloun Sisoulith mentioned that he had last visited Azerbaijan 44 years ago before commenting on the remarkable path of development negotiated by Azerbaijan over the past years. He talked about the contribution of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev to the progress of the Azerbaijani-Laotian relations and lauded his endeavours.

As he was relating his impression from today’s meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, the Head of State of Laos mentioned his country’s being interested in developing the bilateral relations and exchanging experience with Azerbaijan in inter-parliamentary relations, education, technologies, agriculture, tourism and other areas.

The guest mentioned with content his today’s meeting with students at Baku State University, saying that Azerbaijan’s tertiary education institutions had trained up to 2,000 specialists for Laos in the Soviet era. He also spoke of the importance of continuing this practice.

The conversation went on to address the importance of reciprocal visits of parliamentary delegation, of promoting co-operation amongst parliamentary committees and of co-ordination upon international platforms.

There was at the meeting also an exchange of opinions about other matters of interest to the parties.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis