Azerbaijan will brilliantly cope with the role of leader in the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA), Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Petr Tolstoy told Report.

“I hope that this multilateral platform [APA], in which more than 40 countries take part, will contribute to the construction of a new multipolar world, based not on double standards, as has been the case until now, but on mutual respect, consideration of interests and history of the APA members," he said.

The deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma emphasized that an important issue for the APA member countries is “getting rid of Western vocabulary, which, accordingly, imposes Western issues.”

“It seems to me that for all the peoples and countries that are members of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, the issues of justice, economic prosperity and prosperity of the inhabitants of these countries are primarily important. And this is the main task that faces all parliamentarians. We are discussing different approaches in different areas, such as social, cultural and economic. But at the same time, we all proceed from mutual respect and equality of all participants,” Tolstoy added.

The Deputy Chairman of the State Duma also expressed gratitude to the parliament and leadership of Azerbaijan for the hospitable reception and organization of the 14th plenary session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly.

The 14th plenary session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) is taking place in Baku today.

Meetings of committees on political, economic, budgetary, social and cultural issues will be organized during the session. The Baku Declaration and the final report of the APA will be adopted following the session.

At a meeting of the executive council in Antalya, Türkiye, in November 2023, Azerbaijan was elected chairman of the APA for 2024-2025.