Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met with President Arif Alvi of Pakistan on 4 June in the context of her current official visit to that country.

President Arif Alvi told Mrs Gafarova that he was glad to see the Chair of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan and her accompanying delegation in Pakistan, and asked her to give his best regards to President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan.

It was mentioned during the conversation that the relations between the friendly and brotherly countries of Pakistan and Azerbaijan had attained the level of strategic alliance; Pakistan to this day does not recognise Armenia due to its aggressive policy against Azerbaijan.

The President of Pakistan congratulated Azerbaijan on having liberated its lands that had been occupied by Armenia for almost thirty years, and said that the news of the brotherly country having restored its territorial wholeness had caused rejoicing in Pakistan. Pakistan, Mr Alvi added, has always been by Azerbaijan’s side in its just cause and so Pakistan will be from now on.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova thanked for the warm welcome and kind words said about Azerbaijan and, first of all, passed on to President Arif Alvi the greetings of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan.

Sahiba Gafarova noted that that was her first official visit to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as Chair of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan, and voiced her satisfaction with the visit. She then quoted the president of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev as saying that the mutual support of Azerbaijan and Pakistan spelled the fraternal nature of their co-operation.

The two states interact very efficiently in several international organisations alongside the PAECO. The president of Pakistan visited our country at the time of the 18^th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in October 2019, Madame Speaker recalled before saying that the legal documents concerning the very diverse areas that the countries have signed to date constitute the legal foundation for the mutual relations. Mrs Gafarova mentioned as being especially significant the Joint Declaration of Strategic Partnership between the Azerbaijan Republic and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan signed in Baku in 2015.

There are broad opportunities to continue deepening our economic and trade relations while as regards the humanitarian co-operation, special care is being taken of ensuring its continuous growth. First Vice President of the Azerbaijan Republic Mehriban Aliyeva was decorated with Pakistan’s supreme order, the Hilal-e Pakistan, in consideration of the social and humanitarian projects implemented in Pakistan by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation that she is heading.

Madame Speaker talked about Azerbaijan’s brilliant victory in the Patriotic War of 2020 which had lasted for 44 days. She stressed that our country had put an end to the Highland Garabagh Conflict once and for all and had committed it to history archives upon restoration of its territorial integrity.

The Armenian invaders who had committed the Khojali Genocide and innumerable war crimes had to suffer the bitter defeat and signed the capitulation act. At that, Madame Chair pointed out, Azerbaijan, as it was de-occupying its territories, had also enforced independently the four resolutions of the UN Security Council that demanded withdrawal of the armed forces of Armenia from the captured areas of Azerbaijan.

A new stage of large-scale restoration and rebuilding is going on in the Azerbaijani provinces released from the grip of Armenian captivity. And yet, whilst the conflict is not there anymore, certain unresolved problems remain. For instance, Armenia is sending squads of terrorists to our freed areas, refuses to give out the minefield maps and is obstructing delimitation of the borders.

Madame Chair proceeded to witness the appreciation of the support that the Pakistani State and Parliament had extended to Azerbaijan and its fair standpoint building on the international law. She also thanked the people of Pakistan for their moral backing to our country.

The resolutions and decisions of the Pakistani Parliament with regards to the Highland Garabagh Conflict and the Khojali Genocide of the Azerbaijani people make a material component of that support. The unequivocally principal stance of the Pakistani Parliament at the time of the Patriotic War is appreciated in Azerbaijan very much.

The activity of the two parliaments’ friendship groups that maintain energetic working relations and back each other on various subjects serves the cause of making the co-operation between the two supreme legislatures deeper, in the opinion of Madame Chair.

Then, an exchange of opinions followed about other matters. In conclusion of the meeting, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova presented President Arif Alvi with the book Garabagh Before and After the Occupation and supplied the leader of Pakistan with abundant information about the materials contained in that book.

The Press and Public Relations
Department The Milli Majlis