On July 15, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Sahiba Gafarova, met with the President of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini, who is on an official visit to our country.
According to Medianews.az, during the meeting, Sahiba Gafarova spoke about the friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation that unite our countries. She noted that in recent years, relations between Azerbaijan and Slovakia have developed dynamically, reaching the level of strategic partnership.
She stated that the Joint Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership signed in 2024 has laid a solid foundation for the successful development of cooperation in various fields. Emphasizing the important role of active political dialogue and high-level mutual visits in this process, the Speaker highlighted President Ilham Aliyev’s first official visit to Slovakia in December 2025, as well as President Peter Pellegrini’s current official visit to our country, marking a new phase in the development of Azerbaijan-Slovakia relations.
Speaker Sahiba Gafarova fondly recalled her previous meetings with President Peter Pellegrini over the years. She noted that Peter Pellegrini’s official visit to Azerbaijan as the President of the Slovak Republic, following his earlier visits as Speaker of the Slovak National Council and then as Prime Minister, as well as the talks held with President Ilham Aliyev in Shusha, hold special significance for the development of bilateral relations.
The Speaker expressed confidence that this visit will make an important contribution to further strengthening Azerbaijan-Slovakia relations and expanding cooperation.
The importance of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, especially in education and culture, was noted during the conversation. It was stated that these areas play an important role in strengthening mutual understanding and friendly relations between peoples.
It was emphasized that the opening of direct flights between Baku and Bratislava from October of this year will make a significant contribution to the development of connections between peoples and the emergence of new cooperation opportunities.
During the conversation, it was emphasized that inter-parliamentary cooperation is one of the important directions of Azerbaijan-Slovakia relations. Speaker Sahiba Gafarova noted that reciprocal visits and regular contacts between legislative bodies have an important contribution to the development of bilateral relations.
Recalling with pleasure her official visit to Slovakia five years ago, the Speaker highly appreciated the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the parliaments during the official visit of Richard Raši, Speaker of the Slovak National Council, to Azerbaijan in May this year. She stated that this document serves to elevate inter-parliamentary relations to a qualitatively new stage.
During the meeting, the importance of relations between inter-parliamentary friendship groups was also noted, and the necessity of expanding cooperation between the profile committees of the parliaments and further developing mutual activities within international parliamentary organizations was emphasized.
Addressing the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova also highly appreciated Slovakia's contribution to the reconstruction process in Karabakh. She stated that the "smart village" project implemented by a Slovak company in the village of Baş Qərvənd in the Ağdam district is a clear example of successful practical cooperation between our countries. It was noted that the comprehensive secondary school whose foundation was laid recently in the city of Ağdam with the participation of the two countries' Presidents will become another symbol of friendship between Azerbaijan and Slovakia.
President of the Slovak Republic, Peter Pellegrini, expressed his pleasure at being on an official visit to Azerbaijan and being at the National Assembly. The distinguished guest noted that after his visit to Azerbaijan in 2018 as the Prime Minister of Slovakia, the government he led decided to open an embassy in Azerbaijan. He stated that this step was an expression of the importance given to the development of relations between Slovakia and Azerbaijan. President Peter Pellegrini emphasized today that friendly relations and political dialogue between our countries are at a high level and said that his country is interested in expanding cooperation with Azerbaijan in various fields. It was noted that in this regard, the visits of three high-ranking Slovak officials to Azerbaijan over the last two years are a clear example of this.
Noting the special symbolic significance of starting his official visit, which was conducted at the invitation of President Ilham Aliyev, from the city of Shusha, President Peter Pellegrini said that being the first head of state from an EU member country to make an official visit to Shusha is a particular source of pride for him. He expressed confidence that the meetings and discussions held in Shusha, as well as the agreements reached, will make an important contribution to the future development of relations between our countries.
The distinguished guest shared his positive impressions of the large-scale reconstruction and restoration works in Karabakh, evaluating the contributions of Slovak companies to this process and the projects they have implemented as a clear example of successful cooperation between our countries. President Peter Pellegrini called the naming of the comprehensive secondary school to be built in Ağdam after a prominent Slovak personality a proud event and said this is another manifestation of friendship and mutual respect between Slovakia and Azerbaijan.
During the conversation, the high guest, recalling with pleasure his various meetings with the Speaker of the National Assembly, touched upon the importance of inter-parliamentary cooperation, emphasizing the necessity of further developing relations between the relevant parliamentary committees. At the end, he invited the Speaker of the National Assembly to make an official visit to Slovakia again.
Other issues of mutual interest were also discussed during the meeting.
