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On January 24, the key rapporteur on PACE Local and Regional Authorities Armen Gevorgyan met with the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe Leendert Verbeek and the Secretary General Mathieu Mori.

During the meeting the discussion of the local and regional issues and problems to be held in the CoE Fourth Summit to be held in the near future was highlighted. The interlocutors also documented that that inadmissible problems connected with local democracy were recorded in a number of CoE member states, which contradict the European Charter of Local Self-Government. An agreement was reached that the facts and circumstances on local democracy recorded in the CoE member states by the Congress should become a serious matter for the CoE all bodies.

Armen Gevorgyan presented information to the President and the Secretary General of the Congress on the inadmissible situation created around Nagorno Karabakh and on the humanitarian crisis created with the blockade by Azerbaijan. In fact, the blockade by Azerbaijan is not the only manifestation of the fight of the Azerbaijani authorities against democracy.

Armen Gevorgyan highlighted keeping at the centre of attention the ongoing developments around Nagorno Karabakh, especially, besides everything, recently tendencies of the change of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhijevan also are noticed.

Both sides reached an agreement to continue the intensive cooperation between PACE and the Congress.