Orlic meets with Azerbaijani parliament speaker in Baku

BAKU - Serbian Parliament Speaker Vladimir Orlic, who is on an official visit to Azerbaijan, met with his counterpart Sahiba Gafarova in Baku on Friday.

They said they were pleased to be meeting again after Gafarova's visit to Belgrade in May this year, when they signed a MoU to confirm a commitment to continuing the dynamic cooperation.

They agreed that relations between the two countries were at a historical high point and based on mutual respect and trust between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

"Such a relationship between the two leaders represents a strong impetus to intensifying and deepening the comprehensive bilateral relations and strategic cooperation, to which our National Assembly is contributing, too," Orlic said.

Gafarova noted that Azerbaijan saw Serbia as one of its closest friends in Europe and added that Orlic's visit reconfirmed the close ties between the two countries.

She said that, in challenging times for the whole world, Serbia and Azerbaijan needed to continue the unquestionable mutual support and defend the principles of international law together.

Thanking Gafarova for supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia, Orlic informed her in detail of the terror against Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing and the extremely grave overall situation in Serbia's southern province, for which he noted Pristina's PM Albin Kurti was exclusively to blame.

He added that Serbia would stay on the side of the truth, law and preservation of peace, which he said was necessary to continue the country's overall progress.

Orlic and Gafarova reviewed opportunities for joint work by their countries in many areas.

They confirmed a mutual commitment to continuing their dynamic communication and exchanging visits in the future.

Orlic also held separate meetings with Azerbaijani PM Ali Asadov and FM Jeyhun Bayramov to discuss further strengthening of bilateral cooperation.