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On October 13, the Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Eduard Aghajanyan received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to the RA Patrik Svensson . The Committee member Hripsime Grigoryan also attended the meeting.

Congratulating the Committee Chair on the occasion of the appointment, Ambassador Svensson expressed hope that the works of the Committee would become an important contribution to the expansion of the Armenian-Swedish cooperation.

At the beginning of the meeting the sides highly assessed the importance of the development of the Armenian-Swedish relations in bilateral and multi-lateral formats.

They touched upon the deepening and expansion of cooperation in the spheres of mutual interest. They discussed issues on activation of the inter-governmental, inter-parliamentary contacts.

The MPs have noted that the activity of the Friendship Groups is a key issue in the context of cooperation of the legislative bodies.

According to the Committee Chair, the Friendship Groups of the NA eighth convocation are in the phase of formation and soon the process of the works would also launch.

The MP Hripsime Grigoryan expressed her satisfaction to the Ambassador with the joint works during the previous convocation, as well as highlighted the further cooperation already in the frameworks of the works being done in the Committee. Let us remind that the MP led the Parliamentary Armenian-Swedish Friendship Group.

Afterwards the interlocutors discussed issues regarding the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

Eduard Aghajanyan presented the situation created as a consequence of the war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, particularly referred to the issue of the exchange of the captives between the sides. He has noted that Azerbaijan refuses to return Armenian prisoners of war, violating the tripartite statement signed on November 9, as well as the norms of the international humanitarian law.

In this context the interlocutors highlighted the efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries, a number of international structures and partners aimed at the implementation of the agreements of the tripartite statement and the process of the establishment of stable peace in the region.

The MPs noted the importance of the democratic processes in Armenia and in this context the financial support shown to Armenia by the Government of Sweden. They emphasized the programme Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia aimed at the development of the RA National Assembly capacities for the rise of the role of the National Assembly and the more effective implementation of the works.

Thanking the MPs for the meeting and warm reception, Patrik Svensson has noted that Sweden values the expansion of the cooperation in different spheres with Armenia, as well as the further strengthening and deepening of the friendly relations between Armenia and Sweden.

At the end of the meeting the interlocutors reached an agreement to have discussions on the content of the possible cooperation and on the specification of mutual interests.