Unity of Azerbaijan and Turkey will allow us to build the future together, Speaker of Azerbaijan’s Parliament Sahiba Gafarova said.

Gafarova made the remark at a meeting with the Ministry of Trade of Turkey Ruhsar Pekcan.

Welcoming the Azerbaijani delegation led by the parliament’s speaker, the Turkish minister noted that the trade turnover between the two countries made up $4.4 billion, but this figure doesn’t reflect the true potential of the two countries, and the goal is to increase trade turnover.

Pekcan noted that Turkey aims to sign ‘Agreement on a free trade with Azerbaijan’.

“Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Turkey has faced difficulties in cargo transportation to Central Asia through Iran. Therefore, the Georgia-Azerbaijan-Caspian direction has become even more important,” she added.

Touching upon the development of women's entrepreneurship, the minister spoke about the ongoing relevant work in Turkey.

“For this purpose, a new program is being implemented, and projects are continuing to increase the level of participation of women in business life.

The Turkish minister stressed that "a strong woman is a strong family, a strong economy."

Speaking about relations with Nakhchivan, Pekcan brought to attention that Turkey attaches special importance to the development of trade relations with Nakhchivan.

She stressed that Turkey is satisfied with the level of cooperation with Azerbaijan, and expressed confidence in the further increase in trade between the two countries.

Expressing gratitude for the warm welcome, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said that this is her first official visit.

“Turkey is a native country for Azerbaijan. Therefore, high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan make their first official visit to Turkey. Turkish officials do the same. We are "one nation, two states". These are the words of the great leader Heydar Aliyev. These words fully reflect the truth, because we have common language, common religion, culture, history. The unity of our language and culture allows us to build the future together,” Gafarova stressed.

Touching upon the economic relations between the two countries, the speaker added that Azerbaijan and Turkey are doing very great work for the region, and an example of this are the projects Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars.

“Our economic relations are at a high level. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of trade turnover between the countries surpassed $2 billion,” Gafarova said.

The speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament spoke about the work being carried out both in Azerbaijan and Turkey to support the active participation of women in the life of their countries, stressing that societies in which women are free and have the opportunity to get a good education will develop.

During the conversation, the parties exchanged views on various issues of mutual interest.

The parliamentary delegation included Head of the Working Group on inter-parliamentary relations with Turkey Ahliman Amiraslanov, Chairman of the Parliament’s committee on defense, security and anti-corruption Ziyafat Asgarov, MPs Sevil Mikayilova, Fazil Mustafa, Elshan Musayev, Tural Ganjaliyev, Head of the Parliament’s staff Safa Mirzoyev and other officials.

The Parliament’s delegation included Head of the Working Group on interparliamentary relations with Turkey Ahliman Amiraslanov, Deputy

The visit of the parliamentary delegation of Azerbaijan to Turkey will end on 12 September.