IPA CIS Council Secretary General held a meeting with the Minister of Culture of the Azerbaijan Republic in the Tavricheskiy Palace

Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council Yury Osipov met with Minister of Culture of the Azerbaijan Republic Abdulfas Garayev within the framework of his working visit to St. Petersburg to participate in the VII St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Secretary General of the IPA CIS Council – Plenipotentiary Representative of the Milli Mejlis of the Azerbaijan Republic Aidyn Jafarov and the spouse of the Minister.

Yury Osipov welcomed the Minister and his spouse on the premises of the Tavrichesky Palace – the UNESCO site.

Abdulfas Garayev thanked the IPA CIS Council Secretary General for the hospitality and stressed the importance of the IPA CIS activities in the alignment of Commonwealth legislation, especially in the cultural field.

The Minister also mentioned that the day before the agreement, nominating the Azerbaijan Republic as a guest country of the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum in 2020, had been signed with Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky.

The IPA CIS Council Secretary General reminded his colleagues that 2019 had been proclaimed the Year of Book in the Commonwealth and offered the guests to develop and implement a number of joint projects, dedicated to its celebration. Minister of Culture of the Azerbaijan Republic assured Yury Osipov of the Ministry’s support of the relevant projects and suggested issuing by the IPA CIS in cooperation with the Ministries of Culture of member nations the collection of works by young CIS authors translated to the Commonwealth languages.

The parties also discussed the importance of engaging the youth in the IPA CIS activities aimed at educating a new parliamentary generation.

Minister of Culture of the Azerbaijan Republic Abdulfas Garayev invited IPA CIS Council Secretary General Yury Osipov to visit Baku in 2019. Yury Osipov thanked Mr. Garaev for the invitation and noted that he would be pleased to visit the capital of Azerbaijan. At the end of the event, the participants presented each other memorable gifts.