Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova had a meeting with Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili on 19 April as part of the current official visit to Georgia.

The head of the Georgian Parliament welcomed the Azerbaijani colleague and told her that Georgia thought it to be of utmost importance to promote its relations with Azerbaijan as a friendly state. The co-operation of the two countries has gone beyond the region’s boundaries and attained an international dimension whilst having also become solid and successful interaction, especially as much as political, economic, transport, trade and humanitarian affairs are concerned, according to Mr Papuashvili. He said that Georgia and Azerbaijan always supported each other in international organisations. The relationship of the two nations, rooted in history, is bound to continue advancing. Georgia has supported invariably and will continue supporting the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The Georgian side found laudable both the restoration and building work being done by Azerbaijan in its de-occupied lands as well as the modern approach to that cause adopted by the Azerbaijani Administration.

As regards the connexions between the two countries’ legislatures, they co-operate bilaterally as much as they do multilaterally, according to Mr Papuashvili. The exchanged visits of the parliaments’ leaders and members serve the common good, and so do their frequent meetings. The leader of the Georgian Parliament proceeded to underscore the immense importance of furthering our bonds in humanitarian affairs, culture and education, too.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova expressed her appreciation of the sincere words spoken and the gratitude for the invitation to pay an official visit to Georgia, which, by the way, was her first as Chair of the Milli Majlis. She mentioned the history of interaction of the two neighbourly and amicable countries dating back over many a century before saying that our peoples had been rocks for each other for hundreds of years and that their connexions in many areas had an added momentum after they had regained independence. Incidentally, the thirtieth anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia would be marked this year, Sahiba Gafarova pointed out.

Georgia is an active participant of the international projects implemented by Azerbaijan. The joint petroleum and transport initiatives spell a firm partnership; the co-operation between the Azerbaijani and Georgian parliaments is very fruitful, too, Sahiba Gafarova continued.

Our parliaments play a special role in the advancement of the Azerbaijani-Georgian relations; the inter-parliamentary connexions are manifest in the bilateral as well as multilateral interaction. There are the friendship groups in both parliaments; the national delegations always keep in touch and act in the spirit of collaboration under the roofs of the international parliamentary institutions. Speaking of which, there are ample opportunities to broaden the inter-parliamentary connexions through the operation of the parliamentary committees that could exchange legislative experience in the legal, economic, humanitarian and other areas. The trilateral co-operation format binding together the international relations committees of the legislatures of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey is very productive in this sense.

As the conversation went on, Sahiba Gafarova touched on Azerbaijan’s great victory in the 44 days’ Patriotic War and thanked her colleague for Georgia’s fair stance adopted and support to our country during the war. It was said that Azerbaijan made its national territory whole again and enforced the documents adopted by several international organisations, including the four resolutions of the UN Security Council, as she freed 20 per cent of her own territory after the Armenian occupation that had lasted for close to 30 years. Armenia had pillaged all our wealth of material heritage in those territories during the occupation period; all of our towns and villages had been sacked and obliterated. Right now, Azerbaijan is busy implementing fast-paced restoration projects so that the former IDPs can return to their homelands. Restoration of the communications and the projects afoot there will give a boost to the progress of the whole region.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis said then that we wanted to talk about peace and not war and that Azerbaijan had sent Armenia a proposal consisting of five articles with a view to normalising the relations therefore. It is to be hoped that the Armenian side will honour its part of the obligations, the two countries will sign a peace treaty soon enough and durable peace and stability will be promoted across the region.

Other subjects of interest to both sides were discussed at the conversation as well. When the meeting had been over, the leader of the Azerbaijani legislature made a heartfelt entry in the Book of Guests of Honour.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis