Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Members of an Azerbaijani parliamentary panel in charge of foreign relations met with the assistants of U.S. congressmen, who are on a visit to Baku, on August 15, the Azerbaijani parliament's website said.

The chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign and inter-parliamentary relations, Samad Seyidov, spoke about the progress made in recent years, the implemented projects and international events held in Azerbaijan.

Seyidov noted that Azerbaijan gained its independence 22 years ago, saying that the country embarked on the path of comprehensive development due to the effective use of its energy resources. He pointed out that Azerbaijan is the initiator and participant of a number of regional and international projects.

During the meeting it was also noted that Azerbaijan, which is a secular state with rich history and culture, is in a new stage of its development and stands out for the traditions of tolerance that can be an example to others.

Touching upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which emerged as a result of Armenia's occupation policy, Seyidov stressed that for more than 20 years Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan have been under Armenian occupation and over one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory.

Seyidov also said the delayed settlement of the conflict poses a threat to regional security and hinders the development of energy resources and the implementation of economic and democratic reforms.

Speakers at the meeting also said that though Azerbaijan and the United States are far from each other, in terms of politics the relationship between the two countries is developing and a large Azerbaijani-US friendship group operates in the Azerbaijani parliament.

The Congress members' aides said that during their visit to Azerbaijan, they familiarized themselves with various historical monuments of the country and had an interesting meeting.