As reported earlier, the parliamentary delegation led by Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova are in Russian Federation to take part in the Third Eurasian Women’s Forum. As part of this visit, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met with Chair of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko on 13 October.

Valentina Matviyenko greeted Sahiba Gafarova and underlined the importance of both the Third Eurasian Women’s Forum and the matters discussed in its course. Such congresses make it possible to discuss every aspect of women’s participation in global processes, in the opinion of Mrs Matviyenko. That the women parliamentarians representing various countries assemble at such events is very important in terms of the furtherance of inter-parliamentary relations and from the parliamentary diplomacy viewpoint alike, Mrs Matviyenko was saying.

Having expressed satisfaction with the growth of the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia then, Mrs Matviyenko emphasised the role that the legislatures of the two states had played in achieving the present level of interaction.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova, in turn, referred to the high standards to which the Third Eurasian Women’s Forum is organised, adding that such assemblies provided for discussions about gender issues and inter-parliamentary co-operation prospects.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis also stressed as the conversation went on that the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia progressed with reliance upon the strategic partnership of the two countries and pointed specifically at the two state leaders’ input in the evolution of our relations. The periodical official visits of President Ilham Aliyev and President Vladimir Putin matter tremendously for the progress of the bilateral bonds, according to Mrs Gafarova.

Regarding the inter-parliamentary relations between the two countries, they have a part of their own in the advance of the bilateral connexions; in this sense, all praise is due to the work done by the friendship groups of the Milli Majlis and of the Federal Assembly as much as it is to the two legislatures’ joint inter-parliamentary Commission, Mrs Gafarova went on.

Mrs Gafarova proceeded to update Mrs Matviyenko thoroughly on the 44-day Patriotic War of Azerbaijan and on Azerbaijan having liberated its lands. Led by Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev, our victorious Army through its courage put paid to the thirty-year-long occupation of our lands by Armenia. In addition, Azerbaijan enforced the resolutions of the UN Security Council independently. The former Garabagh Conflict was committed to history archives by virtue of the Trilateral Statement signed by the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia and by the prime minister of Armenia in November last year, continued the Chair of the Milli Majlis. A completely new situation has formed in the South Caucasus by now; the conflict is left in the past whereas Azerbaijan has begun to restore its territories freed from the invaders.

Armenia had totally destroyed the formerly occupied towns and villages of Azerbaijan. This state is now resorting to provocations meaning to hinder peace and security in the region, especially, by refusing to release minefield maps, said the Chair of the Milli Majlis as she supplied Mrs Matviyenko with every detail of those circumstances.

Going further, Mrs Gafarova remarked that the borders of Azerbaijan’s economic regions had been redrawn with the two new economic regions of Garabagh and East Zangazur created pursuant to the decree that President Ilham Aliyev had signed in July this year. Furthermore, it is of massive significance to create the Zangazur Corridor because this artery will cause the region’s communications to be repaired whilst also promoting regional development, peace and security.

Other topics of shared interest became the focus of an exchange of opinions as the conversation drew onwards.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis