On October 19-21, in Geneva 121^st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) was held, where the delegation of RA National Assembly led by NA Speaker, head of the delegation Mr. Samvel Nikoyan. MPs Mrs. Heghine Bisharyan and Mikayel Vardanyan were in the delegation.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union is the oldest parliamentary organization. It was created in 1889: parliaments of 152 countries are members of the organization, and it has 8 associated members.

On October 19, the first session of the Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union was convened, where issues concerning the membership of the organization, ruling situation in some member countries, the reports about the work carried out by IPU President and General Secretary during the past six months, etc were discussed.

On the same day Eurasia geopolitical group, to which Armenia also joined, convened a session, where, including the other issues, the issue of filling in the vacancy position in the leading body, Executive Committee, of the organization. Head of the delegation Mr. Samvel Nikoyan proposed Mikayel Vardanyan’s candidacy to be presented by Eurasia group.

In the afternoon of the same day the opening of the 121^st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union was held. The following issues of global importance, which were on the agenda, were discussed. These were: Cooperation and shared responsibility in the global fight against organized crime, in particular drug trafficking, illegal arms sales , human trafficking and cross-border terrorism , The Role of the Parliaments in Developing South-South and Triangular Cooperation with a view to accelerating achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, Youth participation in democratic process. As usual, an emergency item was included in the agenda of the Assembly. The National parliaments and groups presented a number of issues, but as a result of voting the proposal of Uganda and Australia was included in the agenda: Parliamentary action to ensure global food security.

On October 20 and 21 the sessions of the Assembly and the Governing Council continued. The Governing Council elected five new members of the Executive Committee, among them deputy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Mikayel Vardanyan. He also became Vice President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.