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On September 6 the RA NA President Hovik Abrahamyan received Congressman Dan Burton, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia of the Foreign Affairs, the U.S. House of Representatives.

Welcoming Mr Burton’s visit Hovik Abrahamyan has noted that the political relations between the two countries are at a high level, Armenia and the USA have firm partnership relations both on bilateral and multilateral planes. The NA President has mentioned that the RA authorities are resolute to deepen, expand and develop at large the bilateral relations with the USA, in particular, in the spheres of security, trade-economic and educational-cultural spheres. Highlighting the development of the inter-parliamentary relations Hovik Abrahamyan expressed hope that the members of Armenia-USA Friendship Group of the RA National Assembly of the 5^th convocation and the Armenian Group of the USA Congress would not spare efforts for more strengthening the bilateral relations. Noting that this year was the 20^th anniversary of the establishment of the Armenian-American diplomatic relations, Hovik Abrahamyan has documented with satisfaction that we can record that in the history of the Armenian-American relationship the partnership between Armenia and the United States are at the highest level in this jubilee year due to joint efforts. The NA President highly assessed the U.S. involvement in the process of the peaceful settlement of the NK problem as OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair, as well as the assistance provided every year to Armenia and Artsakh by the USA Government.

Touching upon the fact on transfer to Azerbaijan by the Hungarian authorities Ramil Safarov, who killed the Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan with an axe and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hungarian City Court, the pardon granted to him by the Azerbaijani President, the NA President has noted that these steps taken by the Hungarian and Azerbaijani authorities contradict the norms of the international conventions, as well as all moral norms and strike a considerable blow to the efforts aimed at the establishment of peace, mutual trust in the region and negotiation process. The NA Assembly made a statement condemning that wily deed and sent to international parliamentary organizations and national parliaments, proposing to condemn that awful phenomenon and show practical steps in that direction.

Thanking for the warm reception the U.S. Congressman has noted that the USA emphasizes the efforts to further develop and deepen the cooperation with Armenia in different directions. Mr Burton stressed the importance of activation of inter-parliamentary relations, proposing to activate the deputies’ contacts in different formats. He deemed important the enlivening of mutual visits and activation of economic cooperation. Touching upon the recent events the U.S. Congressman condemned the unprecedented action of Hungary and Azerbaijan and expressed readiness to issue the RA NA Statement in the upcoming sitting of the U.S. Congress on returning to the USA.

In the course of the meeting the parties touched upon the problem of the NK conflict settlement, the Armenian-Turkish relations and other issues of bilateral interest.