Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova met with the Speaker of the National Assembly Nosivive Mapisa Ngakula within the framework of her official visit to the Republic of South Africa.

According to the press and public relations department of the Milli Majlis, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of South Africa Nosivive Mapisa Ngakula sincerely greeted the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation and thanked the Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova for accepting the invitation and visiting this country.

The chairman of the National Assembly noted that the president's address to the people was an important event for them and highly appreciated the participation of the Azerbaijani delegation in this event.

At the meeting, Nosivive Mapisa Ngakula said that they are interested in developing relations between our countries and parliaments, and spoke about the role of mutual visits and contacts in expanding bilateral relations.

Emphasizing the importance of friendship groups in strengthening relations between parliaments, the Chairman of the National Assembly noted that they will increase their efforts in this direction.

Nosivive Mapisa Ngakula highly appreciated the chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement of Azerbaijan.

He emphasized that the work of the first Conference of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Baku was organized at a high level, and the importance of the documents adopted at the Conference.

Mrs. Ngakula said that cooperation within the framework of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement is of great importance.

He said that the Non-Aligned Movement has greatly supported the independent and democratic development of CAR.

Therefore, CAR attaches great importance to this organization and considers its participation in the Parliamentary Network important.

It was noted that a delegation of the National Assembly has already been formed in the organization.

The Chairman of the Assembly said that strengthening relations between legislative bodies is important in terms of exchange of experience and information, and he spoke about the importance of mutually beneficial cooperation of our deputies within the framework of both bilateral and international organizations.

He highly appreciated the attention and care given to young people in Azerbaijan, especially the achievements in the field of education, and noted that Azerbaijan's experience in this field is a good example for his country, and that they want to learn from Azerbaijan's experience.

Speaker of Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova expressed her gratitude for the invitation to the official visit and expressed her belief that this visit will contribute to the development of relations between our countries and parliaments.

The speaker recalled with satisfaction the meetings he held with the chairman of the National Assembly last year both in Baku and in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, and said that such meetings and mutual dialogue allowed for further deepening of relations between our parliaments.

Speaking about the role of parliaments in the development of interstate relations, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said that a working group on interparliamentary relations with the Republic of South Africa operates in the Milli Majlis.

He said that cooperation is important both in the bilateral format and in international parliamentary organizations, and he also noted the importance of cooperation and exchange of mutual experience between parliamentary committees.

The Chairman of the Milli Majlis spoke about his successful activities as the Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement of Azerbaijan, the prestigious meetings of this organization organized in our country.

The chairman of the Milli Majlis emphasized that the head of state, Ilham Aliyev, as the chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, has taken important initiatives and these initiatives are supported by the international community.

In accordance with the initiative of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, he spoke about the establishment of the Parliamentary Network of the institution, its founding meeting, the first conference held in Baku, the important documents adopted at this conference, and the upcoming tasks.

At the meeting, the Chairman of the Milli Majlis also drew attention to the establishment of the Youth Organization of the Non-Aligned Movement on the basis of the Youth Network of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was established at the initiative of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and noted that this serves to further expand cooperation between young people.

Sahiba Gafarova reminded that on the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan allocates educational grants to the member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement.

He said that young people from the Republic of South Africa benefit from these grants and we invite them to take advantage of this opportunity more actively.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova noted with satisfaction the participation of the delegation of the Republic of South Africa in the founding conference of the Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Network in Madrid and in the first conference held in Baku, stressing that the Parliamentary Network is a good platform for expanding cooperation between our parliaments.

The chairman of the Milli Majlis talked about the great Victory of Azerbaijan in the 44-day Patriotic War and restoration of its territorial integrity.

He said that the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council and other international organizations regarding the resolution of the conflict and demanding the liberation of our territories from occupation were not implemented for a long time, and finally in 2020, Azerbaijan ensured the implementation of those resolutions on its own.

He pointed out that the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council are implemented immediately in some cases, while the resolutions demanding the liberation of Azerbaijani lands from occupation have not been implemented for nearly 30 years.

The speaker said that this was caused by the double standards prevailing in the system of international relations.

The chairman of the Milli Majlis said that restoration and reconstruction works are being carried out rapidly in the territories freed from occupation, new infrastructures are being created, and necessary measures are being taken for the return of internally displaced persons to their native lands.

It was brought to the attention of the other side that mines were buried by Armenia in our lands and this caused obstacles to the ongoing construction works.

He noted with regret that Azerbaijan proposed to sign a peace agreement between the two countries based on the principles of international law, but Armenia showed a destructive position in the negotiations.

Sahiba Gafarova said that Azerbaijan always spares its efforts to ensure lasting peace, tranquility and security in the region.

In the conversation, the Speaker of the Parliament also spoke about the terrorist act committed against the Embassy of Azerbaijan in the Islamic Republic of Iran on January 27 of this year.

He said that as a result of this terrorist attack, one employee of our embassy was killed and two employees were injured.

The chairman of the Milli Majlis said that we consider this as a terrorist act and demand a fair investigation of this incident and punishment of the criminals.

He noted that the international community should condemn this terrorist incident and give it a proper assessment.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Nosivive Mapisa Ngakula, expressed his condolences on this incident, saying that all forms of terrorism must be strongly condemned and condemned.