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At May 21 press conference, the Head of the RA NA Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) Gagik Minasyan, the Delegation members Vahe Enfiajyan and Gevorg Gorgisyan detailed the solemn meeting dedicated to the 25^th anniversary of the formation of PABSEC which took place in Istanbul on May 15. The heads of the parliaments of PABSEC nine member countries out of the 12 took part in the meeting. Armenia, Russia and Ukraine presented the delegations.

The main discussed document was the declaration dedicated to the 25^th anniversary of the Assembly, where the 25-year achievements of the organization and the upcoming directions of the activities were noted. According to Gagik Minasyan, the voluminous document was warked out in Istanbul and sent to the delegations. Among other countries the Armenian and Ukrainian delegations also presented recommendations. The Armenian side’s recommendation has been distinct: the organization should function and develop in harmony with its essence: it should be economic and be free from touching upon political undue problems. According to the head of the delegation, the Ukrainian side with its recommendations tried to politicize the activities of the organization, As a result of discussion, the recommendation of Georgia was passed where the fixed approaches in general had been admissible for the Armenian delegation.

Gagik Minasyan also informed that on June 19 the PABSEC Summit will be held in Tirana, where issues relating to the venue and term of the appointment of the organization’s Secretary General will be discussed. It can be held in Yerevan, Baku or Sofia. According to the speaker, the Armenian delegation considers inadmissible the debate of the issue of the Secretary General’s appointment: it means to restrict the participation of the PABSEC member state in that process, taking into consideration that the absence of the security guarantees. “It is preferable to hold the debate in Sofia,” the members of the delegations noted.

Gagik Minasyan also emphasized the fact that the future head of the organization cannot be a representative of any conflicting country. He has informed that the delegation implement activities in that connection to present an admissible candidate.

The member of the delegation Gevorg Gorgisyan underlined that during the discussion the Turkish side tried to fix an addendum in the document dedicated to the 25^th anniversary of PABSEC which has not been related to the issue under debate and the region, but was giving very strict and one-sided assessments to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Gevorg Gorgisyan stated that they succeeded to prevent the affirmation of that addendum due to efforts of the Armenian side, particularly the Armenian side. “This is one of the efforts of politicizing the economic organization,” the MP added.

Vahe Enfiajyan touched upon the peculiarities of the Assembly, and presented his approaches relating to the upcoming elections,

Regarding the activities of the organization he stressed that the Armenian delegation repeatedly succeeded to prevent the undesirable statements and the adoption of the resolutions.