Azerbaijan’s National Assembly Speaker Visits Tbilisi

Speaker of Azerbaijan’s National Assembly, Sahiba Gafarova is on a trip to Georgia, where she met today President Salome Zurabishvili, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.

Speaker Gafarova and President Zurabishvili discussed further developing economic and cultural ties, as well as bolstering the strategic partnership between Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Presidential Administration said.

The two officials also touched upon Russia’s war against Ukraine, as well as the security situation in the Black Sea region and the importance of peace in the South Caucasus.

At Speaker Gafarovas’s meeting with PM Garibashvili, the sides discussed bilateral economic cooperation, security in the South Caucasus, Russian occupation of Georgian regions and the war in Ukraine, the Georgian Government’s press service reported.

The two officials stressed the need to further develop existing transportation and energetic projects to increase the competitiveness of the South Caucasus and prompt connectivity with the West.

In this context, they focused on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (BTE) gas pipeline, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), and the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP).

Besides, PM Garibashvili reaffirmed Georgia’s commitment to peaceful de-occupation of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia as well as pledged the country’s readiness to continue mediation between Baku and Yerevan.

Also on April 19, following the meeting with the Azerbaijani Speaker, the Georgian parliamentary chairperson told reporters that they had discussed deepening links between the two legislatures.

Speaker Papuashvili added that they had also talked about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine as well as regional conflicts.

“Georgia and Azerbaijan always had an important role in peacebuilding in the region,” the Georgian Speaker noted. “We agree that both countries shall use this historic role so that we promote with more effort the peace and stability for the wellbeing of our countries, peoples and the whole region.”

The Azerbaijani Speaker is accompanied on the trip to Georgia by lawmakers Arzu Naghiyev, Vugar Isgandarov, Kamaladdin Gafarov, Javid Osmanov, Etibar Aliyev, Fazail Agamali, Sabir Rustamkhanli and Naghif Hamzayev.

The trip is set to conclude on April 20.

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