Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova who is in the Republic of Latvia on an official visit currently has met with the Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš.

The Latvian PM welcomed the Azerbaijani delegation, underlined the significance of reciprocal visits, said that our MPs’ arrival in his country was going to give the bilateral interstate relations a boost and stressed the importance of those relations. Then, PM Kariņš recalled that he, then Minister of Economy, had travelled to Azerbaijan fifteen years back. Azerbaijan has covered an impressive path of development and become an owner of a vast economic potential since, PM Kariņš remarked. The political, economic, cultural and humanitarian co-operation between the two countries is on the rise. Latvia has always supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and intends to adhere to this stance from now on, according to PM Kariņš.

The Latvian PM lauded the co-operation going on between Azerbaijan and the European Union as much as he did the contribution our country is making to the maintenance of the European energy security and the countering of the COVID-19 pandemic alike. He also believes that there are fine opportunities to deepen the economic ties between our countries further.

Thanking for the warm welcome and the kind words said about our country, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova witnessed her pleasure with her first ever coming to Latvia as Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament. This visit would cause the bilateral relations to grow stronger yet, she added confidently.

The leader of the Milli Majlis described Azerbaijan and Latvia as friends and strategic allies before voicing the appreciation of Latvia’s support for the territorial integrity of our country. Our relations embrace a wide array of fields and sectors. The current state of affairs favours a continued intensification of the co-operation, which is especially true of the economic area, in the opinion of Mrs Gafarova. There are sound opportunities for Latvian investments to be made in Azerbaijan, according to Mrs Gafarova who proceeded to tell PM Kariņš about the projects afoot in Azerbaijan. She mentioned the Alyat Economic Zone, the ‘green’ energy zone being created in the de-occupied provinces and the agrarian parks. Sahiba Gafarova invited Latvian companies to join those projects; whilst doing so, she also underscored the need to continue the work of the inter-governmental commission and the practice of convening business forums.

Besides, Mrs Gafarova updated PM Kariņš on the connexions between Azerbaijan and the European Union, what with Latvia being a member of the EU.

Then, Azerbaijan’s historic victory in the 44-day Patriotic War was talked of. It was thanks to that victory that Azerbaijan had made its national territory whole again after thirty years of the Armenian occupation, which, incidentally, was put an end to consequent to that war, Sahiba Gafarova said. On top of that, our country had independently enforced the well-known four resolutions of the UN Security Council and the international law norms and principles to boot.

No conflict exists between Armenia and Azerbaijan anymore: the one that had been was terminated with the trilateral statement inked on 10 November 2020 whereas the 44-day Patriotic War has given birth to the new realia in our region. Azerbaijan is implementing large-scale restoration and rebuilding projects in the liberated territories relying only on its own resources, Mrs Gafarova pointed out. Azerbaijan has put several peace treaty signing offers to Armenia that should lead to mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity by these countries – as much as it would bring about the start of the state borders’ delimitation and demarcation, make possible to restore and reopen all communications in the region and normalise the relations. Azerbaijan wishes to speak of peace and the future rather than of war. Mrs Gafarova said then hopefully that Armenia was going to take in the new reality established in the region and to concur with the Azerbaijani approach to maintaining peace and stability.

The speaker of the Milli Majlis also updated the Latvian colleague on the newly-emerged transport communication opportunities in our region whilst also emphasising the strategic importance of the Zangazur Corridor.

There was an exchange of opinions about other topics of shared interest during the meeting as well.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis