BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.17
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
Economics and Security Committee of NATO Parliamentary Assembly (PA) held a meeting in the format of the videoconference, attended by a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to the assembly, Trend reports on Sept.17 referring to Azerbaijan’s parliament.
The event participants were also representatives of the NATO member states and the associate countries.
The agenda of the meeting included draft reports on “the Gulf Crisis and Global Energy Markets” and “the Black Sea Region: Economic and Geo-Political Tensions”, as well as the organizational issues.
Speaking at the meeting during the discussion of the second draft report, Azerbaijani MP, Malahat Ibrahimgizi, noted that Azerbaijan continues to make a positive contribution to the energy security of Europe.
“The recent military provocations on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border have demonstrated the aggravation of the situation in the region. It must be emphasized that the recent provocation in the direction of Tovuz was committed in the immediate vicinity (at a distance of 15 km) from important energy pipelines,” she said.
“Now that the whole world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, Armenia resorts to provocations. The wife of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Anna Hakobyan, visiting the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, took part in the military training of women, which further inflames the situation. Appealing to the NATO PA, I propose to take serious measures to suppress such steps. This is very important for ensuring the energy security of the Black Sea region," the MP added.
Ibrahimgizi also congratulated Turkish colleagues on the rich gas reserves explored in the Black Sea, expressing the hope that the discovered gas fields will make a positive contribution to ensuring the energy security of Europe.
She stressed that President Ilham Aliyev openly announced the official position of Azerbaijan in connection with the growing tension between Turkey and Greece.
"We believe that Turkey's activities within the framework of international law in the Eastern Mediterranean will serve the peace and development in this region," Ibrahimgizi said.
She pointed out that the Azerbaijani public highly appreciates the role and efforts of NATO in resolving the tension between Turkey and Greece.
"Both of the countries are NATO members. Therefore, I propose that the NATO PA was more active in this issue," the MP concluded.
The representative of Latvia, Chairman of the Committee, Ivans Klementjevs, expressing his gratitude to Ibrahimgizi for the speech, added that he was in Azerbaijan in 2018 and therefore he's well aware of energy issues in the region.
The chairman praised Azerbaijan's contribution to ensuring energy security in Europe.