Speaker of Azerbaijani Milli Majlis, Chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Parliamentary Network Sahiba Gafarova has met with President of the Arab Parliament Adel bin AbdulRahman Al-Asoomi as part of her official visit to Egypt.
During the meeting, Adel bin AbdulRahman Al-Asoomi emphasized that the meeting will contribute to further development of enhancement of relations between the countries. Saying that Arab Parliament attaches great importance to cooperation with NAM Parliamentary Network, Al-Asoomi hailed Azerbaijan’s successful Chairmanship of this cooperation platform. He said that Azerbaijan contributes significantly to establishment and institutional development of the NAM Parliamentary Network.
Speaker Sahiba Gafarova noted that Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis maintains good relations with a host of parliamentary institutions of the Arab Parliament member states. She said that parliamentary institutions of Arab Parliament member states are also members of the NAM Parliamentary Network.
The Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker then provided an insight into the NAM Parliamentary Network, saying that the organization was established in November 2021 in Madrid, Spain, on the initiative of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Highlighting the first Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Network held in Baku from June 30 to July 1, 2022, Sahiba Gafarova expressed gratitude to Al-Asoomi for attending both conferences and invited him to visit the upcoming NAM Parliamentary Network Conference to be held on March 13, 2023 in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.
Speaker Sahiba Gafarova hailed Arab Parliament’s approval at its recent Plenary Session held in January 2023 to grant the Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Network Observer Status in the Arab Parliament. She noted that this is the third organization to grant observer status to NAM Parliamentary Network, including Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA), Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Co-operation (PUIC).
Sahiba Gafarova provided an insight into the 44-day Patriotic War, Armenia’s atrocities against Azerbaijan’s historical, cultural and religious heritage, saying that Azerbaijan restored its territorial integrity, launching a large-scale restoration and reconstruction works to ensure speedy return of IDPs to their ancestral lands, as well as Armenian provocations, including landmine threats, hindering the peaceful process.
Speaker Sahiba Gafarova also highlighted the terrorist act committed against the Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran on January 27, saying that one embassy employee was killed and other two wounded during the attack. “We regard this assault as a terrorist act and we demand that it be investigated objectively and the criminals responsible for it be duly punished,” Gafarova mentioned.
Following the meeting, the sides signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the Arab Parliament and the NAM Parliamentary Network.
