Paraguay voices necessity to strengthen cooperation with Azerbaijan
By Aynur Karimova
A Paraguayan Member of the Congress believes that it is necessary to strengthen cooperation between Baku and Asunción.
Esmerita Sanchez de Da Silva, who also serves as the President of the Committee on Immigration Affairs and Development with the National Congress, told Trend on October 15 that the development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Paraguay is at the initial stage and the sides should take steps to strengthen bilateral relations.
She did not rule out the possibility of opening the Paraguayan embassy in Baku.
“The opening of the embassy would bring great benefits to the people of the two countries,” she noted. “However, it is important to carry out preliminary work with foreign ministries of the two countries.”
The MP went on to add that Azerbaijan is being represented in Latin American countries by civil society organizations and diplomatic missions.
“Azerbaijan should continue pursuing a policy of promoting its culture and history, especially, in Latin America, since there are still states where the people do not know enough about this unusual country,” the MP said. "It is also very important to contribute to strengthening Azerbaijan’s public organizations in the whole world."
Touching upon the developments around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Paraguayan MP said that war and aggression have never been and will not be the way of achieving comprehensive peace.
The MP reiterated her country’s respect for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders and urged Armenia to comply with the resolutions of the UN Security Council on its unconditional withdrawal from Azerbaijan’s occupied territories.
“In the Chamber of Deputies, we studied the Khojaly events,” she further said. "Paraguayan people also became the victims of the massacre in 1864 as a result of the clashes between Paraguay and Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay that became known as the War of the Triple Alliance. Based on the experience of our countries, I can say that wars do not benefit humanity."
The Paraguayan MP also called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to reach a mutual understanding based on international law.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.
Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Paraguay were established on November 3, 1994.
On May 21, 2014 the Friendship Group on Inter-Parliamentary Relations with the Republic of Azerbaijan was established in National Congress of the Republic of Paraguay.
The establishment of such friendship groups in the parliaments of Paraguay and Azerbaijan plays an indispensable role in strengthening friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
--
Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz