Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met with the visiting delegation led by Head of the GB-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary Connexions Friendship Group and a member of the Commons Bob Blackman on 11 November.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova welcomed the British guests and went on to talk about the progressing strategic relations between our countries currently. Great Britain was one of the first countries to recognise the state independence of Azerbaijan; our diplomatic relations will turn thirty next year. The bilateral connexions embrace many different areas, said the Chair of the Milli Majlis before emphasising the fruitful co-operation in the economic and energy sectors.

The two parliaments have their respective positive roles in the advance of the Azerbaijani-British relations. The two legislatures are on sound terms as can clearly be seen in both bilateral and multilateral formats, according to Madame Speaker. Both assemblies have successful working groups for inter-parliamentary connexions. Besides, our delegations to international organisations keep in touch and collaborate across a number of subjects. As for exchanged visits, they, too, serve to deepen our relations. That the delegation led by Mr Blackman had arrived in our country immediately after the Victory Day could be viewed as an extension of that support which the group led by the British MP was giving to the rightful stance of our country during the 44 days’ Patriotic War, Mrs Gafarova pointed out.

The first anniversary of the victory in that war was celebrated very enthusiastically recently; last year, Azerbaijan led by Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev had triumphed in the war historically, restoring both its territorial integrity and historical justice and enforcing independently the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council. Sahiba Gafarova continued to emphasise that the conflict was in the past now whereas Azerbaijan was carrying into life the very large undertakings to restore its freed lands. She drew the guests’ attention to the fact that Armenia had looted and sacked al our provinces, all the captured towns, residential districts, infrastructure as well as our historical, cultural and religious heritage in the close to thirty years of occupation.

Head of the GB-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group Bob Blackman thanked for the warm welcome before congratulating Speaker Sahiba Gafarova on the anniversary of our country’s victory in the 44 days’ Patriotic War. A new geopolitical reality has emerged in the South Caucasus with Azerbaijan’s restoring the integrity of its national boundaries, in the opinion of MP Blackman who went further to witness his country’s keenness on sustainable peace and security in our region.

Further, MP Blackman recalled the visit of his delegation to the de-occupied towns of Shusha and Fuzuli during which they could eyewitness the destruction wreaked there. The British legislator also mentioned the restoration and rebuilding work that Azerbaijan is carrying out in those provinces.

The Commons’ Lord John Kilclooney and David Duguid who took part in the meeting as well talked about the advancement of the relations between our countries and parliaments. Our energy co-operation is a tremendous driver behind the progress of our economic ties, they added. BP has remained one of the lead operators of petroleum upstream projects in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea ever since the Contract of the Century was signed in September 1994. Besides, the British visitors said, the bilateral humanitarian interaction matters as much whilst the co-operation in the education domain proves successful, too.

Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Samad Seyidov, MP Tural Ganjaliyev, Chief of the Milli Majlis Staff Safa Mirzayev, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the UK Elin Suleymanov and other officials attended the meeting as well.

It should be mentioned that Head of the GB-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary Connexions Friendship Group and a member of the Commons Bob Blackman and his delegation have travelled to the liberated towns of Shusha and Fuzuli during their current visit to Azerbaijan. The very fact that the members of the British group were in Shusha on 9 November, the same day, that is, on which a Bill on recognising the fake ‘Armenian genocide’ was put forward in the House of Commons of the UK, demonstrates clearly enough their attitude to such topics as well as their support for the rightful struggle of Azerbaijan.

The Press and Public Relations Department  
The Milli Majlis