Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister has highlighted the importance of the inter-parliamentary diplomacy for the further development of bilateral relations.

Elmar Mammadyarov has met a delegation of the Australian parliament, which is on a visit to Baku, on June 9, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.

During the meeting the sides stressed the opportunities for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Australia in a number of areas.

Mammadyarov expressed his confidence that the visit of the Australian delegation to Baku will contribute to the development of relations between the two countries.

While speaking about the current events in the region, Mammadyarov informed the delegation members about the negotiations that are underway to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

Mammadyarov stressed the importance of resolving this problem as part of the norms and principles of international law, in particular the inviolability of the internationally recognized borders, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the countries.

The views on the issues of mutual interest were also expressed at the meeting.

The Commonwealth of Australia recognized Azerbaijan’s independence in December, 1991. Diplomatic contacts between two countries have been established on June 19, 1992. In 2012, a law was adopted on establishing of the Azerbaijani embassy in the Commonwealth of Australia.

Working group on inter-parliamentary relations between Azerbaijan and Australia was established in the Azerbaijani parliament in 2011.

--

Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz