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On November 11 the 19^th sitting of the I nter-Parliamentary Committee on cooperation between the RA National Assembly and the RF Federal Assembly was held in the Gilded Hall of the Parliament by the co-chairmanship of Aram Safaryan from the Armenian side and Nikolay Rizhkov from the Russian side.

The co-chairman of the Committee, the Chairman of the NA Standing C ommittee of the P rotection of Human Rights and Public Affairs Aram Safaryan had g r ee ted the guests in the Parliament after which he presented the agenda of the sitting.

In the opening of the sitting the NA Vice Speaker Samvel Balasanyan greeted the participants on behalf of the NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan wishing productive work. Speaking about the activity of the I nter-Parliamentary Committee Samvel Balasanyan underlined its importance in the development and strengthening of not only the inter-parliamentary, but also the inter-state relations.

As the V ice Speaker of the Parliament mentioned , as a result of the long-term work of the Committee the relations between two Parliaments had become stab le and dynamic givin g possibility to discover the real force of the Armenian-Russian cooperation.   In his words, the agenda of this sitting was the evidence of the fact that the parliamentarians walked in parallel with time: the innovative technologies brought to quick and fundamental decisions in the economic sphere and the legislative provision of those decisions would not lag behind. The realization of the innovative politics w ou l d favour to the development of both the national economy and the bil a t e r a l economic relations , as the NA Vice Speaker said , and he brought an example of the first opened centre of the Russian-Armenian innovative cooperation in the territory of CIS as a successful attempt .

In the opening of the sitting the NA Vice Speaker Samvel Balasanyan greeted the participants on behalf of the NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan wishing productive work. Speaking about the activity of the I nter-Parliamentary Committee Samvel Balasanyan underlined its importance in the development and strengthening of not only the inter-parliamentary, but also the inter-state relations.

As the V ice Speaker of the Parliament mentioned , as a result of the long-term work of the Committee the relations between two Parliaments had become stab le and dynamic givin g possibility to discover the real force of the Armenian-Russian cooperation.   In his words, the agenda of this sitting was the evidence of the fact that the parliamentarians walked in parallel with time: the innovative technologies brought to quick and fundamental decisions in the economic sphere and the legislative provision of those decisions would not lag behind. The realization of the innovative politics w ou l d favour to the development of both the national economy and the bil a t e r a l economic relations , as the NA Vice Speaker said , and he brought an example of the first opened centre of the Russian-Armenian innovative cooperation in the territory of CIS as a successful attempt .

The co-chairman of the Committee, the Chairman of the committee on N atural Monopolies of the RF Federal Assembly Nikolay Rizhkov also spoke about the economic relations and, especially, about the cooperation in the innovative sphere . 2010 was announced as the year of science and innovation in the territory of the C IS. Nikolkay Rizhkov considered the cooperation in this sphere to be an important precondition of the social-economic development which, in its turn, was necessary for the production of high technologies to be competitive in the international market.  To the co-chairman's conviction, the international crisis damaged those countries, which stress ed on the export of the raw materials, meanwhile the influence of the crisis was little in the economies full of high technologies. He informed that 2.5% GDP was being spent on the scientific researches and programmes in the countries with developed economy, meanwhile the same indicator was maximum 0,5% in the CIS countries. Nikolay Rizhkov presented that an inter-state target programme of the innovative cooperation till 2020 had been developed between the CIS countries. Mr. Rizhkov mentioned the energy -effective economy, the integration of the science and education, the exchange of scientific and technical information, the development of new medical and industrial technologies as possible way s for the Russian-Armenian bilateral, as well as multilateral joint programme.

The basic agenda issue was dedicated to the development of the cooperation in the spheres of science, high technologies and innovative economy. From the Armenian side the issue was presented by the Chairman of the State Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science, and from the Russian side by the Deputy Director of the department of the economic cooperation with the CIS countries of the Ministry of Economic Development Andrey Tzema kh ovich and the adviser to the head of the Russian cooperation Sergey Obrezanov.  The speakers turned to the possible ways of the cooperation between two countries in the innovative sphere and the prospect , and they also spoke about the concrete programmes.    

Within the framework of the 19^th sitting the I nter-parliamentary Committee adopted a protocol. In the document the issues on the creation of a legal field regulating the innovative sphere, the innovative cooperation including the business, science and education spheres, the investment of the contractual base of the bilateral relations in this sphere, the creation of joint scientific and technical centres and the realization of the joint programmes, and also about the cooperation in the issue of the retraining of staff members discussed by the sides were included. The I nter-Parliamentary Committee decided to support the adoption of the innovative model legislation favouring its investment in the Armenian and Russian national legislations, to suggest the concerned Ministries social forums dedicated to the development of the innovations, to organize exhibitions including the force of the private business and the social and technical institutions, to support the creation of the joint cent re s and programmes, especially in the spheres of astronomy and space science.

The participants of the sitting discussed the issue of organizing the 20^th sitting.  It was suggested to hold in April 2011, in Y a roslavl. In that sitting the issues dedicated to the humanitarian cooperation should be discussed, and also by the suggestion of the Armenian side t hey must turn t o the process of the regulation of the Karabakh conflict .

After the sitting the press conference of the co-chairmen of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee o n Cooperation between the RA N ational Assembly and the RF F ederal Assembly Aram Safaryan and Nikolay Rizhkov was held, where the co-chairmen summed up the wok of the 19th sitting held by the Committee t hat day.

The co-chairman of the Committee Aram Safaryan informed those present that in the agenda of the 19th sitting a number of issus of the cooperation in the sphere of science betwe e n the RA and the RF had been included and discussed, which had concerned high technologies and social innovations.

In particular, the issue on the condition of the Russian language in Armenia and that of the Armenian language in Russia is designed to be discussed.

As Nikolay Rizhkov mentioned, the issues concerning the regulation of the NK conflict and its possible developments would also be discussed.

The co-chairman of the Committee Nikolay Rizhkov noticed that in recent years the Inter-parliamentary relations had been strengthened and improved, and this kind of sittings were going on with debates of many issues of bilateral interest. He mentioned that he did not agree with th e point of view, that it was not necessary to hold two sittings in a year.

The co-chairmen of the Committee  also answered the reporters' questions.

Before the works of the sitting began, in the NA Park the participants had laid flowers on the monument to the victims of the October 27,1999 crime.

In the same day the members of the Inter-parliamentary Committee on Cooperation between the RA NA and the RF FA visited the Holt See S t. Echmiadzin to participate in the solemn ceremony of the opening of the statue of Vazgen I Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. The NA Vice Speaker Samvel Nikoyan, the NA deputies, the mayor of Echmia dz in, culture and art figures, residents of the city of Echmiadzin, reporters and others parti c ipated in the event.

To recap, the statue was cast on Nikolay Rizhkov’s initiative, the sculptor was the RF famous sculptor Fridrikh Saghoyan, the designer was the architect Artavazd Nazaretyan.

The opening of the statue was given to Nikolay Rizhkov and the sculptor Fridrikh Saghoyan.   The Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II the co-chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee on Cooperation between the RA NA and the RF FA Aram Safaryan, the bishop Natan Hovhannisyan, the mayor of Echmiadzin Karen Grigoryan expressed their gratitude to the friend of the Armenian nation Nikolay Rizhkov. In his speach Nikolay Rijkov highly assessed the role of the Catholicos Vazgen I in the life of Armenia and the Armenian nation. In his words, the Armenian Catholicos could transfer his patriot and God loving soul to the Armenian nation and inspired hope of living and struggling in the difficult years .

At the end of the ceremony the participants laid flowers and wreaths near the statue.