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On October 21, the Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Eduard Aghajanyan, the Committee members Gurgen Arsenyan and Sargis Khandanyan, the Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Defense and Security, the Head of the RA NA Delegation to NATO PA Andranik Kocharyan and members of Delegation Arusyak Julhakyan, Anna Grigoryan met with the Delegation led by the newly appointed NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina Piriz. The Head of the RA Permanent Mission to NATO Gagik Hovhannisyan also took part in the meeting.

Issues on Armenia-NATO cooperation, the post-war situation, the regional security, as well as the participation of the Armenian military units in the international peacemaking forces were discussed.

Welcoming the guests, Eduard Aghajanyan congratulated Javier Colomina Piriz for being elected in the responsible office. The Committee Chair assessed effective the cooperation in Armenia-NATO different formats and underlined that the existing political dialogue was more expanded between the sides.

Andranik Kocharyan has highlighted the programmes being implemented within the framework of cooperation, which promote the deepening collaboration.

The Armenian parliamentarians expressed concern about the supporting of the terrorists’ move to the venue of the war actions from Syria by the NATO member Turkey in the Artsakh second war. It was noted that the fact of those terrorist forces was confirmed by the President of France, the Federal Security Special Services of Russia and the United States. Andranik Kocharyan conveyed the information received by our country on the active participation of Turkey during the 44-day war to the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative.

Javier Colomina Piriz has noted that the goal of the visit to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia is to get familiarized with the current situation in the region. “Armenia is a reliable and valuable partner, and we should work together on the implementation of a number of programmes,” the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative noted. He thanked the Armenian side for the participation of the Armenian military groups in the forces implementing peacekeeping mission in Kosovo and in Afghanistan.

The preservation of peace in the region was referred to. According to Eduard Aghajanyan, Armenia is ready to take practical steps for establishing long-term peace in the region, but the invasion of the Azerbaijani armed forces into the RA sovereign territory, the existence of Armenian prisoners of war and other held persons do not promote the re-establishment of peace in the region. In this context Javier Colomina Piriz has noted that the NATO is ready to support the settlement of the current problems between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

At the meeting issues on the procedure of the programmes being carried out between the sides, as well as the new opportunities of cooperation in different spheres were also discussed.