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Infectious diseases threatening the development of emergency situations have increased. Therefore, it became necessary to sign a mutual assistance Agreement with the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The Deputy Minister of Health Lena Nanushyan said this at April 26 sitting of the Standing Committee on Health Care of the National Assembly during the report of the draft on Ratifying the Agreement on Cooperation of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States in order to prevent and respond to emergency situations of a sanitary-epidemiological nature in the sphere of public health.

The Deputy Minister noted that the Agreement is aimed at strengthening cooperation between the CIS member states in cases when the states cannot prevent the further development of diseases alone.

According to Lena Nanushyan, mutual assistance will be based on the provision of assistance through specialized epidemiological groups.

The Agreement was signed on 28 October 2022, in Astana.

The Representative of the Ministry stated that Armenia signed the Agreement with a special opinion, with a reservation by Azerbaijan.

The deputy of the NA Civil Contract Faction Lusine Badalyan inquired what special opinion Armenia gave to the Agreement and with what reservations Azerbaijan signed it.

“The provisions of the document will be applied by Armenia to Azerbaijan for the implementation of all the agreements made in the framework of the trilateral statements of the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan on 9 November 2020, 11 January and 26 November 2021, as well as with the results of the complete liberation of the territories of the Republic of Armenia occupied by the Republic of Azerbaijan and the political and diplomatic settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in accordance with the norms and principles of international law, in the interest of achieving the goals stipulated in the UN Charter,” the Deputy Minister of Health said.

The Deputy Minister also specified the reservation with which Azerbaijan signed the Agreement. According to her, Azerbaijan does not consider itself constrained by the provisions of the 2015 Agreement on Cooperation of the CIS Member States in the Sphere of Emergency Prevention and Elimination, as it is not a member to it.

“The provisions of the Agreement will not be applied by Azerbaijan to Armenia until the full elimination of the consequences of the conflict and the settlement of relations between the two countries,” the Deputy Minister said.

The Committee Chair Narek Zeynalyan informed that according to the decision of the Constitutional Court, the Agreement corresponds to the RA Constitution.

The draft was endorsed.

The debate of the draft on Making Addendum to the Law on Licensing in the second reading was postponed for up to two months.