Speakers of parliaments of Armenia, Azerbaijan agree to consider  possibility of inter- parliamentary dialogue

ArmInfo. On March 22, the President of the RA National Assembly Alen Simonyan met with the 

Speaker of Parliament of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova within the framework of the 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union being held in Geneva, the press service of the Armenian Parliament reports.  The meeting was organized on the initiative and mediation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The possible support of the parliaments of the two countries to the 

process of the peaceful negotiations going on between Armenia and 

Azerbaijan was discussed.  The sides agreed to observe the 

opportunity of dialogue at inter-parliamentary level.  The meeting 

was held in the constructive atmosphere.

At the end of the meeting the heads of the parliaments of the two 

countries made a joint statement.

In addition, as the IPU official website reports, on the sidelines of 

the IPU session, yesterday, the leadership of the Inter-Parliamentary 

Union "hosted high-level delegations from Armenia and Azerbaijan on 

the eve of the IPU's 148th Assembly, which takes place from 23-27 

March in Geneva, Switzerland." According to the source, IPU President 

Tulia Ackson and IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong welcomed to 

IPU headquarters the Armenian delegation, led by the Speaker of the 

Azgayin Zhogov (National Assembly), Mr. Alen Simonyan, and the 

Azerbaijani delegation, led by the Speaker of the Milli Mejlis 

(National Assembly), Ms. Sahiba Gafarova.  The meeting was designed 

as a complement and contribution at the parliamentary level to 

governmental peace negotiations between the two sides. 

Parliamentarians, as representatives of the people, have a key role 

to play in reducing tensions and building confidence, as well as in 

ratifying and implementing any future peace agreement.  The IPU 

offered its good offices to the two sides to promote dialogue, build 

good neighbourly relations, and to help pave the way towards a 

normalization of ties between the two countries.

This was the first time that the two Parliaments had met. Both sides 

agreed to continue the dialogue to rebuild trust under the auspices 

of the IPU.

The meeting follows the IPU Secretary General's mission to Armenia 

and Azerbaijan in February 2024, during which he met the authorities 

at the highest levels and laid down some of the groundwork for 

today's discussions.  The IPU also signed memoranda of understanding 

with Armenia, which will host the IPU Global Conference of Young 

Parliamentarians in September 2024, and with Azerbaijan, in its 

capacity as Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Network 

(NAM PN)," they noted.