BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 17. Azerbaijan considers the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) as an important regional organization, Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova said at the 3rd General Conference of the Parliamentary Assembly (PA) of the ECO in Baku, Trend reports.
The country is interested in developing bilateral and multilateral cooperation with ECO member countries, the speaker said.
"In this regard, we, as representatives of our peoples, have a special responsibility. The PA ECO not only supports the implementation of the organization's goals, but also helps to enhance ties between the Parliaments of our countries, thus bringing peoples closer," Gafarova said.
She stressed that the Azerbaijani Parliament attaches considerable importance to its activities within the PA ECO.
"The ratification of the PA Charter can serve as an example. I urge other ECO Parliaments to sign and ratify this Charter. I believe that this step will promote further expansion of ties between the parliaments," the speaker stated.
According to her, the topic of the 3rd Conference of the PA ECO is quite relevant.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has created serious challenges that affected the global economy, healthcare and all areas of public life. As the world community was not prepared for these challenges, finding a way out of the crisis took a while. Amidst the coronavirus-related problems, it was necessary to make great efforts in the fight against the pandemic," she said.
"Azerbaijan has put forward a number of successful global initiatives on this occasion. At the initiative of Azerbaijan's President, Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement Ilham Aliyev, the UN General Assembly held a special session in response to the coronavirus disease pandemic in December 2020, the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly adopted resolutions on ensuring equitable, affordable, timely and universal access for all countries to vaccines in March and December 2021. On the other hand, Azerbaijan provided financial and humanitarian assistance to the worst-affected countries by pandemic, as well as donated COVID-19 vaccines to them," Gafarova said.