POLITICS
Pakistani President receives Speaker of Azerbaijani Milli Majlis
Baku, June 4, AZERTAC
President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Arif Alvi has received Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova, who is on an official visit to the country, Press and Public Relations Department of the Milli Majlis told AZERTAC.
President Arif Alvi said that he was glad to see the Speaker of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan and her accompanying delegation in Pakistan, and asked her to convey his greetings to President Ilham Aliyev.
During the conversation, it was mentioned that the relations between the friendly and brotherly countries of Pakistan and Azerbaijan had attained the level of strategic alliance. Pakistan to this day does not recognise Armenia due to its aggressive policy against Azerbaijan.
Pakistani President Arif Alvi congratulated Azerbaijan on having liberated its lands that had been occupied by Armenia for almost thirty years, and said that the news of the brotherly country having restored its territorial wholeness had caused rejoicing in Pakistan. The Pakistani President added that his country has always been by Azerbaijan’s side in its just cause and so will Pakistan be from now on.
Speaker of Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova thanked for the warm welcome and kind words about Azerbaijan and conveyed greetings of President Ilham Aliyev to President Arif Alvi.
Sahiba Gafarova noted that it was her first official visit to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as Speaker of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan, and voiced her satisfaction with the visit. She quoted President Ilham Aliyev as saying that the mutual support of Azerbaijan and Pakistan spelled the fraternal nature of their co-operation.
“The two states interact very efficiently within several international organisations alongside the PAECO. The President of Pakistan visited our country at the time of the 18th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in October 2019,” Sahiba Gafarova said. She mentioned that the legal documents concerning the very diverse areas that the countries have signed to date constitute the legal foundation for the mutual relations. Gafarova noted that the Joint Declaration of Strategic Partnership between the Azerbaijan Republic and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan signed in Baku in 2015 is of particular importance.
“There are broad opportunities to continue deepening our economic and trade relations while as regards the humanitarian co-operation, special care is being taken of ensuring its continuous growth. First Vice President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva was decorated with Pakistan’s supreme Order, the Hilal-e Pakistan, in consideration of the social and humanitarian projects implemented in Pakistan by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation that she is heading,” Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said.
Speaker Gafarova pointed to Azerbaijan’s brilliant victory in the Patriotic War of 2020 which had lasted for 44 days. She stressed that Azerbaijan had put an end to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict once and for all and had committed it to history archives upon restoration of its territorial integrity.
“The Armenian invaders who had committed the Khojaly genocide and innumerable war crimes had to suffer the bitter defeat and signed the capitulation act. At that, Azerbaijan, as it was de-occupying its territories, had also enforced independently the four resolutions of the UN Security Council that demanded withdrawal of the armed forces of Armenia from the captured areas of Azerbaijan,” she said.
“A new stage of large-scale restoration and rebuilding is going on in the Azerbaijani provinces released from the grip of Armenian captivity. And yet, whilst the conflict is not there anymore, certain unresolved problems remain. For instance, Armenia is sending squads of terrorists to our freed areas, refuses to give out the minefield maps and is obstructing delimitation of the borders,” Speaker Sahiba Gafarova mentioned.
Sahiba Gafarova commended the support that the Pakistani State and Parliament had extended to Azerbaijan and its fair standpoint building on the international law. She also thanked the people of Pakistan for their moral support for Azerbaijan.
“The resolutions and decisions of the Pakistani Parliament with regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Khojaly genocide committed against the Azerbaijani people make a substantive component of that support. The unequivocally principal stance of the Pakistani Parliament at the time of the Patriotic War is highly appreciated in Azerbaijan,” Gafarova mentioned.
Speaker Sahiba Gafarova noted that the activity of the two parliaments’ friendship groups that maintain energetic working relations and back each other on various subjects serves the cause of making the co-operation between the two supreme legislatures deeper.
During the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on other issues.
Following the meeting, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova presented the book “Garabagh before and after the occupation” to President Arif Alvi and informed the leader of Pakistan of the materials contained in the book.