Diaspora

Home page

Diaspora

European Union parliamentsâ€™ Azerbaijan friendship groups to establish advisory council - PHOTO

European Union parliamentsâ€™ Azerbaijan friendship groups to establish advisory council - <font color=red> PHOTO</font>

02 June 2010 14:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A conference entitled â€œParliaments of the European Union countries and Azerbaijan: development of inter-parliamentary cooperation and establishing the advisory council of the EU parliamentsâ€™ Azerbaijan friendship groupsâ€ took place in Tallinn, Estonia. The conference was organized by the Azerbaijan State Committee for Diaspora Activities, Azerbaijani embassy in Latvia, Estonian parliament and Azerbaijan-Estonian friendship group, as well as â€œAydanâ€ Estonian-Azerbaijani Culture Center, press service of the State Committee for Diaspora Activities told APA. Representative of the residential Administration of Azerbaijan, members of the friendship groups at the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian parliaments, Azerbaijani parliamentarians and representatives of the non-governmental organizations, municipalities and media organizations attended the conference. They discussed the issues related to establishing of advisory council of the EU parliamentsâ€™ Azerbaijan friendship groups.

Vice speaker of the Estonian parliament Keit Pentus opened the conference. Azerbaijani member of the Estonian parliament, head of the Estonian-Azerbaijani friendship groups Eldar Efendiyev said despite normal relations between the parliaments of Baltic countries and Azerbaijan, there were some obstacles in the field of prospective cooperation. The parliamentary working and friendship groups can not complete the projects because compositions of the parliaments are changed and it breaks sequence of implementation of the projects. It will be expedient to establish permanent institution to solve this problem. The parliamentarian said due to varied cooperation between Azerbaijan and Baltic countries and constant support of the Baltic countries to the Azerbaijanâ€™s integration into Europe, Estonian government agencies discussed this issue and made proposal to establish the advisory council. Latvian lawmaker, member of the friendship group Oskars Kastens, Estonian lawmaker, member of the commission on EU affairs and Estonian delegation to PACE Mailis Reps, Lithuanian lawmaker, vice chairman of the friendship group Arturas Melianas moderated at the conference. Vice chairman of the Estonian parliamentâ€™s commission for foreign affairs Enn Eesmaa reminded about the decision of European Parliament and said â€œArmenian army must be withdrawn from the occupied Nagorno Karabakh and nearby regionsâ€. Chairman of the Estonian parliament group at the Baltic Assembly Trivimi Velliste, member of the Estonian parliamentâ€™s commission for EU Affairs Mart Nutt, vice chairman of the commission ester Tuikso, chief of the political department of the Estonian foreign ministry Clyde Kull mentioned this issue and shared their opinions.

Estonian parliamentarian Vladimir Velman noted the importance of close cooperation between the Baltic Assembly and GUAM member states.
Azerbaijani parliamentarian Rovshan Rzayev underlined the necessity of Azerbaijanâ€™s integration into the European Union. He mentioned President Ilham Aliyevâ€™s view â€œIt is important to include the European criteria into Azerbaijanâ€™s lifeâ€. Mentioning the steps taken towards the resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the parliamentarian spoke about the obstacles caused by the conflict on the way of the rapid development of Azerbaijan and the region.
Deputy chairman of the socio-political department of Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Arastun Mehdiyev gave information on the honouring of the commitments by Azerbaijan vis-Ã -vis the Council of Europe.
Latvian parliamentarian, chairman of the group on cooperation with the Azerbaijani parliament Oleg Denisov also shared his views about Azerbaijanâ€™s integration into Europe.
Department chief of the State Committee for Diaspora Sureddin Humbatov spoke about the contributions that the Diaspora organizations may make to Azerbaijanâ€™s integration into Europe and the work of the advisory council of the EU parliamentsâ€™ Azerbaijan friendship groups. He noted that for this our Diaspora should cooperate with the parliaments and NGOs. Chairman of Azerbaijani NGO Forum Rauf Zeyni also shared this view.
Deputy chairman of Lithuania-Azerbaijan Association, deputy chairman of the National Communities Council under Lithuanian Culture Ministry Imantas Melianas, members of the European Azerbaijanis Congress Roman Aliyev and Niyazi Hajiyev also made speeches on the theme.
Vice-speaker of the Estonian parliament Juri Ratas underlined the importance of the conference and wished success to the advisory council. He expressed his confidence that the advisory council will make real contributions to the interparliamentary cooperation.
Azerbaijan and Baltic states first of all joined the advisory council of the EU parliamentsâ€™ Azerbaijan friendship groups. Other European countries will also join the council in future.
NGO forums of the Baltic states and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on joint cooperation. A memorandum will be signed in connection with this soon.