Representative delegation of Azerbaijani parliamentarians headed by speaker of the Milli Majlis Oktay Asadov arrived in Moscow today. Azerbaijani deputies participated in the opening ceremony of exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, held in the Russian State Duma. They also held talks with Russian counterparts on a wide range of issues of interstate and interparliamentary contacts between the two countries.
In an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, Alexander Korovnikov, member of the State Duma Defense Committee, stressed that it's necessary to hold such events to strengthen relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. "I'm happy and proud that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, our countries have maintained their ties. Such events must be held within the framework of parliamentary contacts more often. This is the first exhibition of foreign state in the State Duma, and I believe that it should held to establish tradition and help us maintain even closer ties with former republics of the USSR. It's very important for Russia, Azerbaijan, and all former Soviet republics," he said.
Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs Oksana Pushkina informed that this exhibition, organized on the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, led to the idea of establishing closer contacts with Azerbaijani women in power. "Irina Rodnina and I created nongovermental Women's Diplomacy Fund. We announced this during the meeting of the State Duma. After this exhibition, we would like to meet with Azerbaijani women, because this is one of the most socially active parts of the population throughout the world," she said.
"We have something to talk about. I remeber when I talked with Heydar Aliyev, he said: 'You will always have friends and allies if you remember two topics - parents and children', in other words, history and future are two topics that unite us all, and there's no a single person, who doesn't care about such things. We, women, preserve centuries-old traditions of friendship and we look forward, that's why it would be very interesting for us to hold an event with representatives of Azerbaijan," she added.
During the opening of this exhibition, head of the "Just Russia" faction Sergey Mironov said that today's event is not only cultural, but also an important political event. "This exhibition and the fact that it's held hear is a great example of centuries-old friendship between our peoples. It was really great to see and listen to familiar Azerbaijani melodies," he admitted, explaining that in his youth, he served in the Airborne Forces in Ganja for a year and a half.
