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On May 11, in the frameworks of the official visit to the Republic of Lithuania the Delegation led by the Speaker of the RA National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan met with the Speaker of the Seimas of Lithuania Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen and the Lithuanian parliamentarians.

Welcoming the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Speaker of the Parliament of Lithuania has noted that she hosts with great joy the Armenian Delegation, underlining that this year marks the 30^th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Armenia and Lithuania. Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen highly assessed the bilateral relations formed between the two countries during these years and underlined the role of the active cooperation between the two parliaments and, particularly between the parliamentary Friendship Groups.

Thanking his colleague for the invitation, Ararat Mirzoyan has noted that the two countries have a great scope of dialogue which is based on democratic values. The Speaker of the Parliament of Armenia highly evaluated the support of Lithuania to Armenia in the fight against the pandemic and expressed his gratitude to the Lithuanian side for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, as well as for the participation of Lithuania at high level in the ceremonies to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims this year.

Touching upon the situation existing around the Nagorno Karabakh, Ararat Mirzoyan has noted that Azerbaijan continues grossly violating the November 9 tripartite statement, refusing to return the Armenian prisoners of war and other detained persons. In addition to that, the authorities of Azerbaijan continue its policy of Armenophobia, which once again proves that the Artsakh Armenians cannot live safely being part of that country in any case.

The Speaker of the Seimas has stated that Lithuania continues expressing anxiety over the encroachments towards the return process of the prisoners of war, as well as the Armenian cultural heritage by Azerbaijan.

During the meeting the sides discussed a number of issues of bilateral interest, and among them Ararat Mirzoyan informed his colleagues about the snap parliamentary elections being expected in Armenia and invited her to implement observation mission in Armenia in those days.