Baku, November 12, AZERTAC

Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova has met with a delegation led by Chairman of All-Party Parliamentary Group on Azerbaijan and member of the UK House of Commons Bob Blackman.

Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova hailed the successful development of strategic relations between the two countries. “Great Britain was one of the first countries to recognize the state independence of Azerbaijan; our diplomatic relations will turn thirty next year. The bilateral relations embrace many different areas,” Gafarova said. She also emphasized the fruitful cooperation in the economic and energy sectors.

“The two parliaments have their respective positive roles in the advance of the Azerbaijani-British relations. The two legislatures are on sound terms as can clearly be seen in both bilateral and multilateral formats, according to Madame Speaker. Both assemblies have successful working groups for inter-parliamentary ties. Besides, our delegations to international organizations keep in touch and collaborate across a number of subjects. As for exchanged visits, they, too, serve to deepen our relations. That the delegation led Bob Blackman had arrived in Azerbaijan immediately after the Victory Day could be viewed as an extension of that support which the group led by the British MP was giving to the rightful stance of our country during the 44 days’ Patriotic War,” Gafarova pointed out.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said that the first anniversary of the victory in that war was celebrated very enthusiastically recently; last year, Azerbaijan led by Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev had triumphed in the war historically, restoring both its territorial integrity and historical justice and enforcing independently the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council. The speaker emphasized that the conflict was in the past now whereas Azerbaijan was carrying into life the very large undertakings to restore its freed lands. She brought to Bob Blackman’s attention the fact that Armenia had looted and sacked al our provinces, all the captured towns, residential districts, infrastructure as well as our historical, cultural and religious heritage in the close to thirty years of occupation.

Head of the GB-Azerbaijan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group Bob Blackman thanked for the warm welcome and congratulated Speaker Sahiba Gafarova on the anniversary of Azerbaijan’s victory in the 44 days’ Patriotic War. “A new geopolitical reality has emerged in the South Caucasus with Azerbaijan’s restoring the integrity of its national boundaries,” Blackman said. He expressed his country’s keenness on sustainable peace and security in the region.

MP Blackman recalled the visit of his delegation to the liberated towns of Shusha and Fuzuli during which they could eyewitness the destruction wreaked there. The British legislator also mentioned the restoration and rebuilding work that Azerbaijan is carrying out in those territories.

Speaking at the meeting, Commons’ Lord John Kilclooney and David Duguid highlighted the advancement of the relations between the two countries and their parliaments. “Our energy cooperation is a tremendous driver behind the progress of our economic ties,” they said. “BP has remained one of the lead operators of petroleum upstream projects in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea ever since the Contract of the Century was signed in September 1994.” The members of the UK delegation said the bilateral humanitarian interaction matters as much whilst the cooperation in the education domain proves successful, too

Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Samad Seyidov, MP Tural Ganjaliyev, Head of Parliament’s Apparatus Safa Mirzayev, Azerbaijani Ambassador to the UK Elin Suleymanov and other officials also attended the meeting.

Chairman of All-Party Parliamentary Group on Azerbaijan and member of the UK House of Commons Bob Blackman and his delegation have travelled to the liberated towns of Shusha and Fuzuli during their current visit to Azerbaijan. The very fact that the members of the British group were in Shusha on 9 November, the same day, that is, on which a Bill on recognising the fake ‘Armenian genocide’ was put forward in the House of Commons of the UK, demonstrates clearly enough their attitude to such topics as well as their support for the rightful struggle of Azerbaijan.