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On September 17 the Head of Armenia-Great Britain Friendship Group of the RA National Assembly Karen Chshmaritian and members of the group Karine Atchemyan, Naira Karapetyan and Mher Shageldyan met with the members of the delegation of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament.

Welcoming the British MPs who visited Armenia already for the third time, the Head of Armenia-Great Britain Friendship Group Karen Chshmaritian highlighted the existing cooperation and and its deepening between the two countries and the creation of mutually beneficial ties in different directions. He, as well as the members of the delegation, proposed the guests to move the cooperation to more substantial plane, boosting the relations of the educational and scientific centres between the two countries.

Accepting with gratitude the proposal the British guests noticed that they were concerned about the rapprochement and deepening of relations with Armenia as they perceive Armenia as a country based on knowledge and having big intellectual opportunities and perspectives.

In the interlocutors’ opinion, the field of possible and promising cooperation of the two countries is wide: besides education and culture which is already rather expanded, will give opportunity to cooperate in the spheres of science, high technologies and television communication.

On the same day the representatives of the factions of the National Assembly, members of the RPA faction Artak Zakaryan, Karine Atchemyan, member of the PAP faction Tigran Urikhanyan, Head of the ANC faction Levon Zurabyan, Secretary of the Rule of Law faction Mher Shahgeldyan, and member of the Heritage faction Tevan Poghosyan also met with the delegation of Great Britain.

In the course of the meeting problems concerning the perspectives of Armenia’s joining to the Customs Union and continuity of European integration were discussed.

If Levon Zurabyan from the opposition MPs criticized the policy pursued by the RA authorities, and Tevan Poghosyan deemed unacceptable the decision of the authorities to join the Customs Union, then the representatives of the RPA, Rule of Law factions assured that Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union does not contradict the European integration course, otherwise, Armenia adheres with the European Union to continue and its adopted policy of implementing reforms. In particular, Artak Zakaryan noticed that on September 3 nothing has been changed in Armenia, and will not be also changed on November 29. To his assessment, Russia has been and remains Armenia’s strategic ally, and the maintenance and development of those relations has always been important for Armenia, and the negotiations of cooperation and with Customs Union and Association with the EU have been on in parallel and will continue. “The policy is an art of possibility, which we will try to call on into life in the development of relations with the EU,” Artak Zakaryan said.

The British MPs noticed that every country decides itself its policy, stemming from its national economic and political interests, and at the same time expressed hope that Armenia would continue its adopted policy of democratization and reforms.

On the same day the delegation of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament visited Tsitsernakaberd. They laid a wreath at the Memorial eternalizing the 1915 Armenian Genocide one and a half million victims and honored the memory of the innocent victims with a minute of silence. The members of the delegation have also been at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, got acquainted with the documents witnessing the Genocide and left a note in the Commemoration Book of Honourable Guests.

On the same day the delegation of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament visited Tsitsernakaberd. They laid a wreath at the Memorial eternalizing the 1915 Armenian Genocide one and a half million victims and honored the memory of the innocent victims with a minute of silence. The members of the delegation have also been at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, got acquainted with the documents witnessing the Genocide and left a note in the Commemoration Book of Honourable Guests.