Members of the bilateral friendship groups of the Milli Majlis and Ukraine’s Supreme Rada met on 16 October.

The leader of the Milli Majlis Group for inter-parliamentary connexions with Ukraine Rufat Guliyev welcomed the Ukrainian guests and told them that the exchange of visits contributed massively to the on-going advance of our relations. Friendly ties and mutually beneficial co-operation have been built up amongst our countries, MP Guliyev noted before stressing the importance of broadening the bilateral economic, humanitarian, academic and educational interaction. The Azerbaijani MP witnessed satisfaction with the large volume of trade but said it could be made larger still – there are the ample opportunities to achieve that.

The parliaments have a special part to play in the increasing relations; the Milli Majlis has in action the inter-parliamentary connexions groups tying it to the legislatures of many countries and Ukraine is no exception. Reciprocal visits of our MPs and that they should exchange opinions about various subjects are very important from this point of view, according to MP Guliyev.

As MP Javid Osmanov point out, the triumphant Azerbaijani Army led by President, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev had liberated the lands of the country in last year’s 44-day Patriotic War. MP Osmanov praised the Ukrainian state’s and people’s support to us in this matter and mentioned the current commemoration ceremonies marking the anniversary of the Victory across the country.

The co-chairmen of the Ukraine-Azerbaijan friendship group of the Supreme Rada Valeriy Kolyuh and Vladimir Kreydenko thanked for the warm welcome given the delegation and said that Ukraine was interested in developing its relations with Azerbaijan as the leading state of the South Caucasus. The co-chairmen underlined the dramatic importance of parliamentary co-operation for the strengthening of our relations and emphasised the vast role that the inter-parliamentary friendship groups play in the experience and information interchange between the legislatures of Azerbaijan and Ukraine.

The Ukrainian delegation members proceeded to voice their ideas about the growth prospects of the bilateral economic, cultural, humanitarian, educational, academic and other relations. They also talked about mutual investments and other matters.

Rufat Guliyev answered the Ukrainian colleagues’ questions and clarified several topical areas of interest to them towards the end of the conversation.

The Milli Majlis member Anar Mammadov, the visiting Supreme Rada members, the 1st Secretary of the Ukrainian Embassy in Baku Yevghen Osadchiy and the leader of the Ukrainian-based ‘Azerbaijanis’ Solidarity Diaspora’ Hikmat Javadov attended the meeting as well.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis