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On April 17, the Speaker of the RA National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan received the U.S. Congressional Delegation, including Democrats and Republicans.

Welcoming the guests in the National Assembly the Head of the legislative body highly assessed the role of the inter-parliamentary relations at bilateral, as well as international structures, evaluated the efficiency of the parliamentary diplomacy.

Ararat Mirzoyan expressed hope that the current visit of the Congressional Delegation, as well as the activities of the Parliamentary Friendship Groups would contribute to further strengthening of the Armenian-American relations.

The NA Speaker presented to his American colleagues the revolutionary events happened in Armenia and the reforms concerning different spheres followed them. “The snap elections, which were held as a result of revolution, were assessed as free, fair, transparent and democratic by the most zealous observation missions,” Ararat Mirzoyan has noted, underlining that the democratic path of the development, the accountability, transparency, the protection of human rights are no longer irreversible. In this context he has stated that the young democracy in Armenia has the support of all international forces and structures for whom the democratic values are priceless.

The Speaker of the National Assembly presented to the guests the priorities which are available on the agenda of the legislative body of the country that had passed to the parliamentary government system: improvement of the legislative field, implementation of the control function, electoral reforms, strengthening of the parliament’s capabilities and development of independent, analytical skills. Ararat Mirzoyan stressed the role of the exchange of experience, mutual visits and inter-parliamentary cooperation and other formats.

Touching upon the foreign political agenda of our country, the Head of the parliament presented to the members of the Congress the position of Armenia in resolving the Nagorno Karabakh problem, exclusively through peaceful negotiations and in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group. He has drawn the attention of the Congressional delegation to the financial support being shown to the NK by the U.S., as well as the assistance to the actions which promote the advancement of the peaceful negotiation process.

Thanking the NA Speaker for the warm reception and presenting the delegation that include the members of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) of the House of Representatives, the HDP Co-Chair David Price (D-North Carolina) has noted that they have observed the ongoing events in our country and have welcomed the implementing democratic processes and reforms. On behalf of his colleagues he expressed readiness to support the initiatives, which will be presented by the Armenian counterparts.

The other HDP Co-Chair Vern Buchanan (R-Florida) has noted that at present favourable conditions are created for further deepening and expansion of bilateral relations. In this context he has evaluated the role of the American-Armenian community, who, to him, has considerable contribution to the most different spheres of the U.S.. The Congressman especially underscored the necessity of the activation of economic cooperation and the implementation of the investment effective policy.

The Congressman Michael Conaway (R-Texas), Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia), Congressman Adrian Smith (R-Nebraska), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-California) and Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-Alabama) addressed questions to the Armenian MPs concerning them.

The interlocutors referred to the issues relating to the inter-parliamentary cooperation, the parliamentary diplomacy, the democratic processes, the electoral system, the economic reforms, the investment policy, the problems of refugees and women and other spheres.

The NA Deputy Speaker Vahe Enfiajyan, the members Lilit Makunts, Edmon Marukyan, Ruben Rubinyan, Vladimir Vardanyan, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, Babken Tunyan and Mane Tandilyan took part in the meeting in an expanded format.