BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 22. Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova has met with a delegation led by NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Šekerinska, a source in the parliament told Trend.
The meeting highlighted more than 30 year-long cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO, and highly appreciated the alliance’s role in ensuring international peace and security.
During the conversation, the parties emphasized the importance of the existing sustained and substantive political dialogue, noting that President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev’s visits to NATO Headquarters, the visit of NATO’s former Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to Azerbaijan in 2024, ongoing negotiations, and regular contacts have brought new momentum to the partnership and are regarded as indicators of the intensification of political dialogue. Azerbaijan was described as a reliable and committed partner for NATO, with an emphasis on the country’s participation in the Alliance’s peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan and its significance as a regional transport and logistics hub.
The meeting further highlighted Azerbaijan’s contribution to the Alliance’s energy security, noting that the country currently supplies natural gas to 10 NATO member states and two partner countries. This was described as being of particular importance at a time when energy security has become an integral part of national security. The speaker also underlined Azerbaijan’s key transit role in the Middle Corridor, noting that this makes an important contribution to stability and cooperation in the region.
Gafarova also touched upon the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, saying that under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan has restored its sovereignty and created new realities in the region. She pointed out that Azerbaijan was the party that put forward the peace initiative and, following the Washington Summit, has taken consistent and practical steps to advance cooperation with Armenia.
Šekerinska stated that the alliance attaches special importance to developing relations with Azerbaijan and highly values the close political dialogue between the parties. She expressed confidence that these relations would be further deepened within the framework of the new Partnership Program, thanked Azerbaijan for its cooperation with NATO and for its significant contributions to ensuring the energy security of the Alliance’s member states, and emphasized that the partnership will continue successfully in the future.
The deputy secretary general also conveyed congratulations regarding the process of peace and normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The discussion also highlighted the importance of relations between the Azerbaijani parliament and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and reviewed prospects for cooperation.
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