Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia Shalva Papuashvili and Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova followed up their meeting with a joint statement made before the mass media people.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis said at the event that that was her first visiting Georgia as leader of parliament. Speaker Sahiba Gafarova expressed satisfaction with the visit and thanked the leader of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili for the invitation to his country as well as the hospitality extended to the Azerbaijani delegation.

This visit is no coincidence: Azerbaijan and Georgia are two amicable neighbour countries whose peoples are bonded with the ancient friendship. They have been together for centuries and they have always lived in accord and good neighbourhood, and our bilateral co-operation rests on this solid foundation. The inter-state relations that have graduated to strategic partnership by today continue progressing continuously, according to Sahiba Gafarova.

The leader of the Azerbaijani legislature emphasised then the special place that the inter-parliamentary collaboration occupied in the bipartite connexions and the very high level that collaboration has reached to date.

‘We with the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia Mr Shalva Papuashvili have reviewed the current condition and the development prospects of the relations between our parliaments. The visits of the chairs of parliament exchanged over the past period have made their special input in the progress of our connexions. The friendship groups active in the parliaments of both countries serve as a certain bridge between the legislative bodies,’ Mrs Gafarova was saying.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis said then that they had also talked over ways to broaden our co-operation further, and exchange of legislative experience between the parliamentary committees of both parties could be regarded as a possible target for joint efforts in this context. The trilateral co-operation format bringing together the international relations committees of the legislatures of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey is immensely opportune from this point of view as well. The next meeting in this format is due in Baku and Shusha in May.

What else Sahiba Gafarova told the mass media was that she had informed her counterpart of the work done after Azerbaijan had terminated the almost thirty-years-long occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia. She had told Mr Papuashvili that Azerbaijan was furthering large-scale restoration and building operations in its liberated territories relying on its own capacities only. The whole infrastructure is being constructed anew; new towns and villages are being built. Armenia had destroyed all our towns and villages with intent; our entire history, culture and religion heritage had been subjected to vandalism. So, there is a lot to be done in the lands freed from the invaders yet.

Furthermore, the Chair of the Milli Majlis had broached at the meeting with the Georgian colleague the new realia and the new co-operation opportunities having emerged in the region in the post-conflict period. Materialising those opportunities would serve the cause of peace, stability and security in the region. It was with a view to normalising the relations that Azerbaijan sent Armenia a proposed based on five principles. The discussion at the latest meeting that took place in Brussels on 6 April showed the Armenian side’s positive attitude to that offer. We trust, Sahiba Gafarova stressed, that Armenia will do what it ought to do without losing much time. Speaking of time, it is time to talk about peace, stability and co-operation rather than about war in the region.

Sahiba Gafarova told the media that the visit to the friendly Georgia was a success. Mrs Gafarova emphasised that the conversations during the visit would help move further up and strengthen yet more the ties between Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis