Oman's Shura Council Chairman Arrives in Baku for OIC Parliamentary Conference
BAKU, Azerbaijan - Khalid Bin Hilal Al Maawali, Chairman of the Shura Council of the Sultanate of Oman, arrived in Azerbaijan on Monday on a working visit, joining a gathering of senior parliamentary figures from across the Islamic world convening in the capital.
Al Maawali is in Baku to attend the 20th Session of the Conference of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Member States. On the sidelines of the conference, he is scheduled to hold meetings with participating delegations from several countries, details of which remained unconfirmed in available reporting.
Azerbaijan's Milli Majlis is serving as host legislature for the session. Milli Majlis Speaker Sahiba Gafarova has been holding a series of bilateral meetings with counterparts in connection with the conference, including with the Speaker of Mozambique's Assembly of the Republic and with the First Deputy Speaker of the UAE Federal National Council. A meeting was also held at the Milli Majlis with an Iranian MP.
Al Maawali's arrival came on a busy day of parliamentary diplomacy in Baku. The Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly also arrived in Azerbaijan on a working visit in connection with the same conference, while the PUIC General Committee approved draft budgets for 2026-2027 and regional groups held consultative meetings within the framework of the OIC Parliamentary Union Conference.
For Azerbaijan's institutions, the conference represents a significant diplomatic undertaking. The Milli Majlis, as the host legislature, is coordinating engagements across multiple delegations from countries spanning the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and beyond. The presence of senior figures such as Al Maawali, who heads one of Oman's two legislative chambers, reflects the weight accorded to the Baku session by participating states.
The hosting of the 20th PUIC Session places Azerbaijan at the center of inter-parliamentary dialogue among OIC member states. Baku has positioned itself as a hub for multilateral gatherings in recent years, including COP29, and the conference adds to that record. For Azerbaijani lawmakers and the Milli Majlis administration, managing a session of this scale involves coordinating protocol, logistics, and substantive agenda items across a broad set of delegations.
Oman and Azerbaijan are fellow members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Al Maawali's bilateral engagements on the sidelines are expected to cover discussions with counterparts from several participating delegations, though no specific outcomes have been confirmed.
The formal decisions of the 20th PUIC Session and the results of Al Maawali's bilateral meetings remain unconfirmed pending the conclusion of the conference proceedings in Baku
