Sahiba Gafarova, Speaker of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis, attended and addressed the Parliamentary Forum held on the margins of the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3) in Awaza, Turkmenistan, on August 4.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova chaired the first session of the forum titled “From Vienna to Awaza: unresolved challenges, lessons learned and the way ahead”.

Speaker Gafarova said that the forum aims to ensure the recognition of the role the Parliaments can play in shaping and implementing policies and programmes in the landlocked developing countries, transit countries and development partners, as well as in fulfilling the obligations and priorities under the Programmes of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries.

The Speaker stressed the importance of inter-parliamentary cooperation, expressing confidence that the exchange of ideas and expertise would open new perspectives in the interparliamentary activity.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova highlighted the necessity of keeping national development, regional cooperation, international support and partnership as the key areas of the current and future activities. According to the Speaker, this is decisive for the implementation of the Agenda 2030, achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and making certain that nobody is left behind.

She also briefed the participants about Azerbaijan’s experience in the discussed topic. According to the Speaker, Azerbaijan, a landlocked country, has been able to convert geographic limitations to opportunities thanks to the implemented initiatives, having invested billions of dollars over the past years in the transport infrastructure including the Baku International Sea Trade Port in Alat and construction of the new highways and railroads. Situated on the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor and the North-South Corridor, Azerbaijan today has become one of the key transport and logistical hubs in Eurasia.

She further added that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the cornerstone of the Middle Corridor, indicates Azerbaijan’s clear commitment to strengthen regional ties.

The forum proceeded with remarks from other speakers.