Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met on 6 December the delegation of the Secretariat of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS) led by the Head of the IPA CIS Council’s Secretariat Dmitry Kobitsky.

The leader of the Azerbaijani parliament welcomed the guests cordially. She told them that Azerbaijan co-operated with international entities in general and with the IPA CIS in particular. Members of the Milli Majlis are actively involved in international events making the Azerbaijani side’s mark there.

As the conversation wore on, Mrs Gafarova touched on the liberation of the Azerbaijani lands from the Armenian occupation following the 44 days’ Patriotic War and the destructions wreaked in those provinces. The Azerbaijani side wishes to talk about peace and future development today. Observing the postulations of the Trilateral statement of 10 November unconditionally serves the common interest of the countries of the region and our nation are pinning high hopes on the region’s future, Sahiba Gafarova continued.

The head of the Milli Majlis spoke commandingly about the work done by the International Institute for Monitoring Democracy Development and Parliamentarism, and Suffrage Protection for Citizens (IIMDD) and its Baku Branch. She pointed out that the Baku Branch traced intently such political processes in the CIS as elections and referenda; it joined in monitoring them and brought to the table its input in the study of the relevant international experience.

Thanking for the kind welcome, the IPA CIS Council’s Secretary General Dmitry Kobitsky expressed satisfaction with his delegation’s visit to Azerbaijan and with what they had observed here. The organisation he leads finds it very important to deepen its relations with Azerbaijan. The active stance of the Azerbaijani delegation at the IPA CIS congresses and Azerbaijani MPs’ contribution to drafting model laws mean that the high-level co-operation and connexions between the Assembly and the Milli Majlis are on the rise, Mr Kobitsky remarked.

During the current visit, the delegation of the Assembly have acquainted themselves with the arrangements at the new office of the IIMDD Baku Branch, talked to the branch employees and taken interest in their work, Mr Kobitsky said, going further to mention a close kind of co-operation arranged between the Institute’s Head Office and its Baku Branch.

The IPA CIS IIMDD Director Ivan Mushket, in turn, shared his views on what the Institute plans to do jointly with its Baku Branch eventually.

The leader of the working group for inter-parliamentary connexions with the Russian Federation Nizami Safarov, Chief of the Milli Majlis Staff Safa Mirzayev, Deputy Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council/Special Envoy of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan to the IPA CIS Aydin Jafarov, Director of the IIMDD Baku Branch Teymur Muradov and other officials took part in the meeting as well.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis