Chair of Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova Meets a NATO Delegation

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova had a meeting with the delegation led by Deputy Assistant to the UN Secretary General for political and security affairs, the special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Xavier Colomina on 18 October.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis welcomed the guests before mentioning Azerbaijan’s active profile in the NATO Partnership for Peace programme. The two-way co-operation has been progressing over the past period; Azerbaijan is contributing to keeping peace internationally and, what with the country being an associated NATO member, is energetically involved in the Alliance’s peace-making missions. As the President of Azerbaijan has pointed out, our participation in the peace-making missions of NATO constitutes an important component of the co-operation between our country and this organisation. In this context, it should be emphasised that the Azerbaijani soldiers had served shoulder to shoulder with the NATO military in Afghanistan to the last day. Besides, Azerbaijan is active in the NATO Partnership for Women, Peace and Security.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova remarked as he broached the subject of Azerbaijan’s relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly that there was a close co-operation between them and that the delegation of the Milli Majlis took part in the Assembly’s sessions and seminars.

Mrs Gafarova proceeded to inform the guests of the historical victory of Azerbaijan in the Patriotic War. She mentioned that Armenia had held 20 per cent of the territory of Azerbaijan under occupation for close to thirty years until last year the Azerbaijani Army led by Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev and relying solely on its own strength liberated the lands of its country and, while so doing, also enforced the pertaining resolutions of the UN Security Council. The Garabagh Conflict is history now. Our country is now occupied with the restoration and building work; it is building airports and bridges, laying roads and creating other infrastructure in Garabagh. Azerbaijan wants peace and security restored to the region whilst Armenia continues its provocations. According to Sahiba Gafarova, Armenia has not released minefield maps still though the Statement of 10 November was signed almost a year ago. This is a rude violation of the international humanitarian laws.

Deputy Assistant to the UN Secretary General for political and security affairs, the special rep for the Caucasus and Central Asia Xavier Colomina said, in turn, that that was his first ever arrival in Azerbaijan. Mr Colomina congratulated Mrs Gafarova on the Newfound Independence Day and expressed satisfaction with the advancement he witnessed in our country. Though the pandemic has made it difficult to pay visits, Mr Colomina continued, his current tour of the region had been started and had been done so at the behest of the UN Secretary General. The guest thanked Azerbaijan for the participation in the peace-keeping mission in Afghanistan and underlined the great importance that is attached to co-operation with our country as an associated member of the Alliance. Mr Colomina also lauded the relations between NATO and Azerbaijan.

The leader of the Milli Majlis delegation to the NATO PA and a parliamentary committee member Ziyafet Asgarov, Chief of the Milli Majlis Staff Safa Mirzayev and other officials were taking part in the meeting, too.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis