Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 25 /Trend/
Chairman of Azerbaijani Parliament Oqtay Asadov received the delegation headed by Sudan's Presidential Assistant Nafi Ali Nafi, which is in Azerbaijan to participate in the 7th session of the General Assembly of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties.
Asadov noted that Azerbaijan and Sudan are friendly and fraternal countries. Sudan was among the first to recognize the independence of Azerbaijan, and 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries will be marked next year.
He added that the delegations of the two countries carried out high level mutual visits, held effective meetings over the previous years.
"There are 5 documents signed between the two countries until now. I think more documents must be signed to strengthen the legal framework between the two countries, there are great opportunities for it," Asadov said.
It was noted that the parliaments play an important role in the intergovernmental relations.
"Today our MPs have similar positions on issues of mutual interest in international organizations. In our view, the requirement of the time - to do more for comprehensive development of relations between the legislatures," the Chairman of the Parliament said.
At the meeting, Asadov gave detailed information about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and stated that Azerbaijan may solve this problem in another way.
"However, we still prefer the solution of the conflict by peaceful means. Organization of Islamic Cooperation appealed to the member countries to recognize the Khojaly tragedy as an act of genocide. We believe that the Parliament of Sudan also will have it's say in the matter and will not change its position on support Azerbaijan's territorial integrity," Asadov said.
The Chairman of the Parliament once again thanked Sudan for supporting the election of Azerbaijan as a member of the UN Security Council.
Nafi Ali Nafi said he was pleased with the visit to Azerbaijan and the participation in the session of the General Assembly of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties.
He said the National Congress Party of Sudan - the only organization of the African continent, participating in this event. Sudan and its president are interested in development of relations with Azerbaijan both within the International Conference of Asian Political Parties and in bilateral format.
"I think that our meeting in the Parliament will contribute to the development of relations between the parliaments," he added.
Then the issues of creating inter-parliamentary friendship groups, the activation of mutual visits, exchange of experience between the legislative bodies, and other issues were discussed.
The meeting was attended by Chairman of the Committee on Agrarian Policy of the Parliament Eldar Ibrahimov, MP Asef Hajiyev and others.