05 September 2023 15:17

On 5 September 2023, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov met with László Kövér, Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary, within the framework of his official visit to Hungary.

At the meeting, topical issues on the bilateral and multilateral cooperation agenda between the two countries, inter-parliamentary relations, including the current situation in the region, were discussed.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov noted with satisfaction the level of developing relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary in various fields, including political, economic, energy security, humanitarian, education, culture and other fields.

It was emphasized that high-level visits between our countries, which have become more intensive in recent years, have given further impetus to the development of relations. It was noted that the Azerbaijan-Hungary Strategic Dialogue held between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs on 4 September was useful for determining future areas of cooperation and their practical implementation.

As a continuation of the dynamics of development of bilateral relations, it was emphasized that mutually beneficial cooperation exists within a number of international organizations, particularly the Organization of Turkic States. The importance of further increasing the intensity of parliamentary diplomacy, including the activities of inter-parliamentary friendship groups, which are of great importance in the development of relations, was noted.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov also informed the other side in detail about the consequences of Armenia’s occupation of our territories for nearly 30 years, the current situation and new realities in the region in the post-conflict period after 2020, the large-scale restoration and reconstruction works carried out in the liberated territories, and the normalization and peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

It was emphasized that, despite the efforts made by Azerbaijan, which is the initiator of the peace agenda, towards advancing the normalization process, Armenia’s continuation of military-political provocations against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country and its failure to fully withdraw its armed forces present in the territories of Azerbaijan from the territories of our country obstruct the establishment of lasting peace in the region and constitute the main source of threat. At the same time, the ongoing large-scale mine threat in our region was highlighted.

It was noted that the proposal to open the “Aghdam-Khankendi” road to meet the needs of Armenian residents settled in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan as part of the process of their reintegration into our society, and in parallel, to intensify the use of the Lachin road, was rejected. It was stated that the rejection of these proposals of the Azerbaijani side shows that the current situation around the Lachin road is by no means humanitarian, as Armenia claims, but rather political in nature.

László Kövér, Speaker of the National Assembly, noted the importance of high-level and highest-level contacts, as well as close cooperation between parliamentary friendship and expert groups, along with the Speakers of Parliaments, in the development of relations of a strategic nature between Azerbaijan and Hungary. The existence of prospects for further developing relations and the importance of using opportunities in these directions were emphasized.

At the meeting, an exchange of views was also conducted on other bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.