Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met with the delegation led by Chair of the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Asad Qaiser, in Azerbaijan on an official visit currently, on 30 July.

The parliament chairs had a tête-à-tête meeting first, during which they voiced the shared pleasure with the high standards set by the relations between our countries and exchanged opinions about the present state and growth prospects of the bipartite inter-parliamentary interaction. Both speakers emphasised the significance of the First Trilateral Meeting of the parliament chairs of Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey and of the Baku Declaration signed by them.    

An enlarged-format meeting followed.

The Milli Majlis Chair welcomed the guests and thanked the Chair of the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Asad Qaiser for having accepted the invitation to come to Azerbaijan on an official visit. That was Mr Qaiser’s first official visit to our country as head of the Pakistani parliament, as Mrs Gafarova pointed out. The First Trilateral Meeting of the Azerbaijani, Pakistani and Turkish parliaments’ leaders arranged during the visit is remarkable historically; the very fact that such a meeting had taken place at the time of the pandemic is telling of the great importance attached to the furtherance of our relations.

The heads of state have a special role played in the strengthening of the friendly and fraternal bonds amongst our countries. The conversations held during both presidents’ reciprocal visits laid a firm foundation upon which to set qualitatively higher standards for the interaction; the legal frameworks governing the bilateral co-operation consists of the 36 documents signed to date. As regards the Joint Declaration of Strategic Partnership between the Azerbaijan Republic and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, inked in Baku in 2015, it accentuates the height achieved by our connexions.

Sahiba Gafarova went further to touch on the broad cultural and humanitarian links between the two countries as a factor behind the two nations becoming yet closer. The tremendous social and humanitarian projects implemented in Pakistan by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation led by Azerbaijan’s First Vice President Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva were highlighted with special stress. Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva was decorated with Pakistan’s supreme order Hilal-e Pakistan for those benevolent deeds in 2015.

Madame Speaker also brought up the joint trip of the chairs of the Azerbaijani, Turkish and Pakistani parliaments to Shusha and Fuzuli. Their delegations’ members were able to see what historic victory the Azerbaijani Soldier had gained on the battlefields of the 44 days’ Patriotic War.

We appreciate highly the political and moral support of the government and parliament of Pakistan for Azerbaijan’s righteous struggle, Mrs Gafarova stressed.

The speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament praised the resolutions of the National Assembly of Pakistan condemning the Armenian territorial aggression against the Azerbaijan Republic and about the genocide of civilians committed by Armenia in the town of Khojali as another token of our friendship.

The subject of the co-operation between the legislatures of Azerbaijan and Pakistan was broached then. The Chair of the Milli Majlis mentioned the friendship groups active in both parliaments and the successful collaboration of our MPs in the international organisations.

Chair of the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Asad Qaiser expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome before talking about the First Trilateral Meeting and the signing of the Baku Declaration, both during his current official visit. He also recalled with content the meetings he had had with the Azerbaijani officials, saying that Pakistan considered it very important to further its connexions with Azerbaijan, a state friendly and brotherly to it.

The guest congratulated Sahiba Gafarova and the people of Azerbaijan on the restoration of the territorial integrity of our country pursuant to the Patriotic War. Pakistan’s approach to the matter is unequivocal: Pakistan has always supported the just cause of Azerbaijan, according to Mr Qaiser.

Mr Qaiser went further to express a hope that the high-level political dialogue will have its impact on the economic, cultural and humanitarian sectors, too. The intensification of the bilateral economic relations serves the shared interest of the two nations; there are ample opportunities to secure great achievements in energy, agriculture, tourism and humanitarian affairs, he said.

A further deepening of the parliamentary interaction matters in that it will drive the two sides towards their goals. On the other hand, the fact that the contacts amongst the already-mentioned friendship groups have become regular can factor significantly in the future promotion of the bilateral relations, in the opinion of Mr Qaiser.

As the meeting was drawing to a close, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova and Chair of the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Asad Qaiser signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the two parliaments.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova commented on this by stating her confidence that the document was going to turn a leaf in our inter-parliamentary relations.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis