1 / 1

On May 10 RA National Assembly President Hovik Abrahamyan received the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Petros Efthymiou.

Welcoming the guest Hovik Abrahamyan expressed conviction that his visit would promote to closely get acquainted with the problems of the region. Expressing his gratitude for hospitality Petros Efthymiou noted that it was very pleasant to be in the Armenian Parliament and see how the discussions were going on in the atmosphere of mutual consent. In his words, the Armenian delegation in the OSCE PA had a rather lively activity, taking part in the discussions of the issues.

RA NA President highlighted the OSCE PA – RA NA partnership, as well as the cooperation with the OSCE Yerevan Office, with which the NA Staff had signed an agreement and actively cooperated. Hovik Abrahamyan noted that in Armenia numerous reforms were implemented, particularly, at the moment the draft law of the Electoral Code was under discussion, and the authorities would like to have such an Electoral Code, which would promote to hold fair transparent elections.

The President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly expressed satisfaction in connection with the works being done on Electoral Code, considering important having reliable, trustworthy system for holding elections.

The sides also touched upon political issues. NA President Hovik Abrahamyan noted that the OSCE Minsk Group was the only acceptable format for Armenia in the NK conflict settlement process. He drew the attention of the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to the regular shootings, snipers’ actions by Azerbaijan: the Armenian side proposed to remove them from the contact line, but there was no response from Azerbaijan.

Regarding the Armenian-Turkish relations Hovik Abrahamyan noted that it was not understandable that Turkey sought to become a EU member, but it kept close the boder with the neighbour. According to Petros Efthymiou, the improvement of the Armenian-Turkish relations emanates from the interest of the whole region.

Touching upon the NK issue, the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly noted: “The OSCE PA fully supports the Minsk Group format and the OSCE is the most truthful organisation in the NK conflict settlement process. We don’t want other organizations to be involved in it.” In his words, we shall work in the direction of the peaceful solution of the problem, which will be based on the international law.

NA President Hovik Abrahamyan touched upon the re-creation of the Sub-Committee on NK issue in PACE, considering it inadmissible. He noted that such steps hindered the solution of the problem. Petros Efthymiou reaffirmed that they support the OSCE Minsk Group and it’s not useful other organizations to be involved in that issue.

Emphasizing the parliamentary diplomacy RA NA President highly assessed the role of OSCE PA in the development of the inter-parliamentary dialogue.