The Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova who is in Riga on an official visit had a meeting with the President of the Republic of Latvia Egils Levits on 3 February.

President Egils greeted Chair Gafarova and told her that Azerbaijan was a friendly state to Latvia and that, on the other hand, Latvia was keen on promoting its versatile connexions with our country. Besides, Mr Levits pointed, Latvia has always supported and will be supporting the territorial wholeness of our country.

Egils Levits stressed the need in a further deepening of the economic co-operation before telling Sahiba Gafarova of the current state of affairs with the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia and about also how Latvia was combatting this plague. He lauded the Azerbaijani initiatives concerned with this counteraction. It was also said that the two countries had fine co-operation going under the roofs of international organisations not barring the UN.

Sahiba Gafarova thanked for the supreme hospitality extended to the delegation she is leading. She passed on to President Egils Levits the greetings from President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan.

This is her first coming to Latvia as Speaker of the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic. Hopefully, this visit and the meetings and discussions during it will generate an added growth momentum behind the bipartite relations – including the inter-parliamentary ones, said the Chair of the Azerbaijani parliament.

Azerbaijan and Latvia are two friendly states and strategic partners, Mrs Gafarova continued, also touching on the history of the friendship of the two nations.

Multiculturalism, a way of life with the Azerbaijani people, makes certain that representatives of diverse creeds and peoples live in Azerbaijan in peace and accord, it was said then.

As regards the bilateral inter-parliamentary connexions, the Chair of the Milli Majlis mentioned the fruitful co-operation under way there, especially thanks to the backing provided by reciprocal visits and the work done by the friendship groups of both legislatures. Also, Mrs Gafarova expressed satisfaction with how our parliamentarians interact in international organisations.

Incidentally, a delegation of the friendship group of the Latvian Saeima visited Azerbaijan in June 2021. Then, the Latvian MPs could see with their own eyes the districts of Ganja City destroyed by the Armenian missile attacks during the Garabagh War II and the towns of Agdam and Fuzuli wrested from the invaders’ grip. Mrs Gafarova mentioned the intense appreciation with which the friendship group’s statements about the Khojali Genocide and the provocations of Armenia committed along the borders and during the Patriotic War and the Latvian parliamentary group’s support for the liberation of the previously occupied provinces as well as its congratulatory letters that were sent round in this respect had been received in Azerbaijan.

As the conversation drew on, Sahiba Gafarova informed Egils Levits of the Khojali Genocide the thirtieth anniversary of which is nigh, by the way.

The victory of Azerbaijan in the 44-day Patriotic War was touched upon then. The Chair of the Milli Majlis drew the attention of the Latvian President to the fact that there is no conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan anymore and that a new kind of reality has set in across the region. 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. We want to talk about peace and future rather than war. Armenia ought to pass a correct judgement on this new reality that is established in the region and do what duties befall that state in the cause of keeping up peace and stability here, according to Mrs Gafarova.

Other matters of concern to both sides were talked over during the meeting, too.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis