On September 3, Chairman of the Milli Majlis (Parliament) Murtuz Alasgarov met with a delegation of the French Senate led by Chairman of the friendship group for Caucasus Ambroise Dupont paying a visit to Azerbaijan.

Chairman of the parliament pointed out that the history of relations between our countries dates back to middle ages and after outstanding politician Heydar Aliyev returned to power in 1993, our relations obtained a new impulse. The negotiations during many visits of Heydar Aliyev to France, documents signed gave a chance to further develop the relations between the two countries.

Murtuz Alasgarov informed on the history of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, its reasons and consequences. He said he was not satisfied with the activities of co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk group dealing with this problem. The Minsk group has not done anything yet, despite of the fact that Co-chairmen were given a special role in taking sanctions against aggressor, fulfillment of well-known resolutions of the UN Council of Europe.

Azerbaijani people are waiting concrete offers of this organization. Otherwise, people will liberate its lands by some other method. France is one of Co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group that is why it should render a serious attention towards this issue.

Expressing gratitude for the meeting, Ambroise Dupont shared his impressions about the visit. He pointed out that this is the third arrival in Azerbaijan, and development of the country makes him to hope for better. France considers Azerbaijan as a close ally that is why it is very much interested in development of relations. At the meeting with Prime Minister, ministers and other officials, the delegation discussed some issues, and achieved positive results. The agreement on opening of the French culture center in Baku. French delegation is doing its best to open exhibition of Azerbaijani artists in the French Senate.

Underlining that France is interested in settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Ambroise Dupont announced that Co-chairmen of the Minsk group have prepared new offers. These offers have not been published yet, because Armenia has just passed the elections and Azerbaijan is facing Presidential Elections. After the elections in Azerbaijan, President of France and chairman of the Senate will intensify their efforts on speeding up the negotiation process and the soonest resolution of the conflict. A visit to Azerbaijan of the Chairman of French Senate Christian Poncle has been scheduled in this context.

Further, the parties shared their views on issues of mutual interest.