The chairman of the Milli Majlis International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Committee Samad Seyidov and the committee member Asim Mollazade talked to a group of overseas diplomats at a meeting titled ‘The Role of Parliament in Diplomacy’ and held at the Milli Majlis through co-operation with the ADA University and the International Development Assistance Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 9 June.

There, Samad Seyidov followed his greetings to the diplomats up with an account about the structure and workings of the Azerbaijani parliament, the representation of political parties and women in it, the rules of conducting parliamentary elections, the contribution of the Milli Majlis to the operations of international organisations and the friendship groups active under the auspices of the legislature.

Azerbaijan’s having liberated its lands after 30 years of occupation in the course of the 44 days’ Patriotic War, the bitter consequences of that occupation and the current restoration and re-construction projects aiming to eliminate those consequences, and the efforts made to strengthen peace and economic co-operation in our region were broached, too.

MP Mollazade told about the history of inception of the parliament of Azerbaijan and that the emergence of the first parliament, the first democratic, legal and secular state in the East was proclaimed nowhere else but in Azerbaijan. Our country had given the suffrage to women not only for the first time in the Islamic World but also earlier than some Western countries had done so, MP Mollazade pointed out. He proceeded to inform the diplomats about the history and rich statehood experience of Azerbaijan, the system of values established historically, and the traditions of multiculturalism and tolerance.

Then, Samad Seyidov and Asim Mollazade were answering the diplomats’ questions about Azerbaijan’s constitutional order and election law, the role of parliaments in diplomacy and the opportunities afforded by parliamentary diplomacy.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis