Speaker: Azerbaijan praises Slovakia’s support for Karabakh reconstruction

Sahiba Gafarova, speaker of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis (Parliament), said on May 13 that Baku highly values Slovakia’s support for reconstruction efforts in Karabakh, as she hosted Richard Raši, speaker of the National Council of Slovakia, during his visit to Azerbaijan.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Gafarova said the visit reflected the strong level of inter-parliamentary relations between the two countries and pointed to growing cooperation in economic, trade and energy sectors, Caliber.Az reports via local media.

She said the Slovak delegation would visit Azerbaijan’s “liberated territories,” including the village of Bash Garvand in the Aghdam district, where Slovak companies are involved in construction projects.

“This will already be Mr Raši’s second visit to Karabakh. I believe the scale of the reconstruction work carried out there since 2022 will pleasantly surprise him,” Gafarova said.

She added that Azerbaijan viewed Slovakia’s participation in reconstruction projects as a symbol of bilateral friendship.

The Karabakh region and surrounding territories returned to Azerbaijani control following the 2020 conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Since then, Baku has launched large-scale rebuilding programmes in areas heavily damaged during decades of conflict. Armenia and some international organisations have meanwhile called for broader guarantees related to the rights and security of the region’s ethnic Armenian population.

For his part, Raši thanked Azerbaijani officials for what he described as constructive talks and invited Gafarova to pay an official visit to Bratislava.

He also welcomed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on inter-parliamentary cooperation between the Azerbaijani and Slovak legislatures.

Raši said Slovakia remained “a reliable and balanced partner” for Azerbaijan on the European market, underlining Bratislava’s interest in maintaining cooperation with Baku in several sectors, including energy and infrastructure.

By Aghakazim Guliyev