As part of her visit to the United States, Speaker of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova has met with First Lady of the Republic of Türkiye Emine Erdogan.
During the meeting, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said that environmental protection has evolved into one of the biggest global challenges of the present time. Referring to the UN General Assembly’s support for Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan’s 2017 Zero Waste Initiative – the support that had taken shape of the UN GA resolution issued in December 2022 and backed by Azerbaijan, amongst others, Gafarova noted that this initiative is essential for world protection and passing our world on to future generations in a better state. The speaker also pointed out the signing of the Declaration on Global Commitment to Zero Waste for the World, Our Common Home by Azerbaijan’s First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva at her meeting with Emine Erdogan on the sidelines of the 9th Summit of the Organisation of Turkic States in Samarkand.
Speaker Sahiba Gafarova expressed her deepest condolences to the families and friends of the tens of thousands killed in the devastating earthquake that struck Türkiye on February 6. She wished those wounded in the natural disaster speedy recovery. Gafarova noted with confidence that Türkiye would certainly overcome the natural disaster’s aftermath under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Azerbaijan and Türkiye always stand by each other on both joyful and difficult days, upon this disaster, too. Azerbaijani state and people spare no effort to help Türkiye in eliminating the consequences of the earthquake. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation is closely involved in the aid campaign, and the Milli Majlis too has sent humanitarian relief to the disaster area,” Sahiba Gafarova emphasized.
Sahiba Gafarova highlighted President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Türkiye, as well as the Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of the State of the Organization of Turkic States held in Ankara on 16 March on the initiative of the Azerbaijani President.
Speaker Sahiba Gafarova touched upon the parliaments’ role in boosting the relations between the two countries, and praised the successful development of fruitful cooperation between the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan and the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
First Lady of the Republic of Türkiye Emine Erdogan also hailed the successful development of relations of brotherhood and friendship between the two countries. She expressed her gratitude to the Azerbaijani state and people for the support provided to Türkiye in response to the February earthquake.
Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan commended the high level representation of Azerbaijan at the UN meeting on the Zero Waste Initiative. The Turkish First Lady stressed the importance of the initiative in terms of ensuring environmental protection and addressing global ecological problems.
