There was a meeting on 17 May of Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova and Deputy Chairman of the Iranian Majles Ali Nikzad who had come to Baku to take part in the Third General Conference of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Economic Co-operation Organisation.

The greetings to Mr Nikzad were followed by Sahiba Gafarova’s voicing the interest of Azerbaijan in furthering the bilateral and multilateral ties with Iran and mentioning with satisfaction her last year’s visit to Iran and the meetings and conversations that had taken place during it. Our two countries are bound together with friendship and good neighbourhood, Mrs Gafarova added.

As to the inter-parliamentary connexions, it was said that our legislative assemblies had a substantial role to play in the evolution of the bi-partite relations and that each of the assemblies had a working group in action and that both those groups were bridging the Azerbaijani and Iranian legislatures.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis updated the Iranian visitor on the new state of affairs and the new realia present in our region following Azerbaijan’s victory in the 44-day Patriotic War. Once the conflict had been over, Azerbaijan turned to the extensive work aiming to restore and rebuild its lands liberated from the Armenian occupation.

Deputy Chairman of the Islamic Consultative Assembly Ali Nikzad said that he was glad to be in the friendly neighbouring country, and offered his gratitude for the high standards to which the PAECO Third General Conference had been organised and conducted. Mr Nikzad also underscored the gravity of the last-year visit to Iran of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation led by the Chair of the Milli Majlis and of the meetings held during that visit. The Vice Speaker of the Iranian Parliament said then that the advancement of the inter-parliamentary connexions served the common goals and that the exchanged visits of the two sides’ parliamentary delegations mattered very much.

According to Ali Nikzad, he trusts that the de-occupied territories of Azerbaijan will be repaired soon enough and that the internally displaced people will return to their native lands without any delay.

Other matters of common interest were talked about at the meeting as well.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis