BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 1. Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova delivered a speech at the at the opening ceremony of the 11th Summit of G20 Parliament Speakers in the city of Cape Town of South African Republic on 1 October, Trend reports.
Remarking that this Summit is a valuable platform demonstrating parliamentarians' commitment to joint work, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova added that the theme ‘Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability’ adopted by the South African Republic for the G20 chairmanship represents the topics that our world needs.
These topics are also the principles shared by Azerbaijan, said the Speaker of the Milli Majlis, mentioning that President of Azerbaijan had presented in his speech at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly several days ago our country's vision: peace and development based on international law and the principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of states, mutual respect and co-operation. According to Sahiba Gafarova, Azerbaijan remained faithful to this vision whilst liberating its territories from the 30 years of occupation by Armenia through the implementation of the norms and principles of international law independently. And continued it by commencing the peace process with Armenia and initialling the text of the peace agreement in August this year in Washington.
Also informing the Summit participants in her speech about the energy and transport projects being implemented by Azerbaijan, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova mentioned that those projects have contributed to the energy security of many countries and strengthened regional ties. According to her, the Zangazur Corridor will transform into an important transport hub connecting continents pursuant to the implementation of the ‘Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity’.
The Speaker of the Milli Majlis brought to the attention of the assembly our country's contribution to global multilateral co-operation as well. As the Speaker stated, Azerbaijan's chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement in 2019-2023, activity in the field of providing humanitarian assistance and chairmanship at COP29 reflect its firm commitment to multilateral co-operation and joint efforts to achieve greater solidarity and sustainable development. It was said that the important achievements of COP29 not only demonstrate Azerbaijan's ability to build bridges between various countries and communities, but, at the same time, show Azerbaijan's staunch intention to resolve the problems of the most vulnerable and poorly developed countries. Having mentioned the forthcoming holding in our country of the World Urban Forum and World Environment Day in May of next year, she said that this event will become yet another global platform towards achieving solidarity, equality and sustainability.
At this important international event, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova also conveyed information about the activities of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement, established in 2021 on the initiative of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and in which the Milli Majlis currently presides. She stated that the establishment of the Parliamentary Network is proof of our country's strong support for and commitment to inter-parliamentary collaboration. Along with expanding and deepening the links between parliamentarians of the Member States of the Non-Aligned Movement, which represents the Global South, this organisation also actively co-operates with other inter-parliamentary organisations in the development of parliamentary diplomacy.
Speakers of parliaments of the G20 Member States also delivered speeches alongside the leadership of the Government and Parliament of the South African Republic as the host at the Summit’s opening ceremony.
