BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 28. Azerbaijani Parliament’s Chairperson Sahiba Gafarova met with a Romanian delegation led by President of the Chamber of Deputies Ion-Marcelu Ciolacu, Trend reports citing the Azerbaijani Parliament.
During the meeting, Gafarova said that this visit will contribute to the development of cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries and further strengthening friendly relations.
Reminding the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries in 1992, the chairperson noted that Romania is the second country in the world to recognize the independence of Azerbaijan and the first among the European Union countries.
Speaking about the successful development of the Azerbaijani-Romanian friendly relations at the level of strategic partnership, she noted the successful activities of the embassies in the development of relations between the countries.
Gafarova stressed that mutual visits and meetings at the level of heads of state play an exceptional role in the development of bilateral relations between the countries.
She emphasized the visits of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Romania, including the recent working visit on December 17, 2022.
The chairperson also reminded the visits of the heads of the Romanian state to Azerbaijan, in particular, the official visit of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on February 2-3 this year.
Gafarova added that these mutual visits testify to the existence of an active high-level political dialogue between the countries.
Further, she noted a rather extensive legal framework between the two countries, as well as a good level of ties in the fields of economy and energy.
According to her, trade between the two countries is constantly growing and there is great potential for expanding cooperation in various fields.
Speaking about the successful cooperation between Azerbaijan and Romania within the framework of international organizations, Gafarova pointed out the importance of continuing this cooperation and mutual support.
Noting the ties between the two countries in the field of culture, the chairperson stressed that the activities of the representative office of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and a number of other structures in Romania contribute to the development of our cultural ties.
During the conversation, she reminded that Azerbaijan was the first country in the Muslim East that granted women the right to vote as early as 1918 and that the first opera, ballet, and theater in the Muslim East were created in Azerbaijan.
Noting that parliaments have a special place in relations between countries, Gafarova expressed satisfaction with the level of effective cooperation between our parliaments.
She also highlighted the importance of mutual visits that took place over the past period at the level of chairmen of parliaments, and friendship groups operating in both parliaments.
Speaking about the role of mutual visits in the development of relations, the chairperson noted that during the visit of the Friendship Group of the Romanian Parliament to Azerbaijan in April 2022, the delegation visited the liberated territories, including the country’s cultural capital Shusha city, the participants of the visit saw the scale of the destruction caused by Armenia [during the occupation], and got acquainted with the ongoing restoration and construction work in the liberated territories.
Besides, during the conversation, Gafarova noted the importance of cooperation at the level of parliamentary committees for the further development of inter-parliamentary relations.
The speaker also spoke about the victory of Azerbaijan in the 2020 Second Karabakh War, and the restoration of the country's territorial integrity.
She noted that the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and other international organizations to resolve the conflict, demanding the liberation of Azerbaijani lands from Armenian occupation, weren’t implemented for a long time, and, finally, in 2020, Azerbaijan ensured the implementation of these resolutions on its own.
The chairperson informed about the restoration work in the liberated territories, and the process of returning former internally displaced persons to their native lands.
She noted that Azerbaijan offered to sign a peace agreement based on five basic principles of international law, but Armenia took a destructive position during the negotiations.
Expressing gratitude for the invitation to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan, Ciolacu noted that there are close ties between the countries and that Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of Romania in the South Caucasus.
Besides, Ciolacu shared his impressions of the meeting with President Ilham Aliyev.
He also shared his opinion on the development of inter-parliamentary relations between the two countries, the role of friendship groups in this area, and the contribution of joint projects of Romania and Azerbaijan to the energy security of Europe.
Gafarova thanked Ciolaku for his sincere words about our country, the President, and the people.
During the conversation, the importance of expanding cooperation between delegations of countries in international organizations was emphasized.
The meeting was attended by Azerbaijani Parliament's Labor and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev, Head of the Working Group on Azerbaijan-Romania Inter-Parliamentary Relations Azay Guliyev, the group’s member Aghalar Valiyev, Head of the Azerbaijani Parliament’s Administration Farid Hajiyev, ambassadors of both countries Huseyn Najafov and Vasile Soare, as well as other officials.
