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Addressing the attendees the NA President said:

“Dear Mr Minister,

Dear representatives of the diplomatic corps,

I welcome you on the occasion of this important meeting. This traditional meeting has already proved its viability and, I believe, that in future this format will also promote the discussion of foreign policy problems and their purposeful and coordinated implementation.

It is not a secret that in parallel with the legislative activity the RA National Assembly continuously contributes in the boosting of international cooperation of the country in different spheres. The National Assembly in an appropriate format takes part in the processes concerning foreign relations, extending inter-parliamentary ties, advancing relations with different international structures, harmonizing the legislation of the Republic of Armenia with the international standards, ratifying bilateral and multilateral treaties.

The RA National Assembly actively takes part in giving international publicity to the most important problems of the RA foreign policy in foreign parliaments and different international structures, particularly to the issues regarding the Nagorno Karabakh problem, the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the Armenian-Turkish relations.

Today, we at the threshold of the important historical event: we are preparing for the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Taking into consideration the fact that the attention of the international community in 1915 will be focused on the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, all of us should bring together all our efforts for the processes directed to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. We, the parliamentarians, will do our best in all international parliamentary structures in touching upon once again the issue of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and condemning the genocide as an evil against humankind. The RA National Assembly will also support all the initiatives, which will be aimed at the organization of the consultations, forums directed to the condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.

The National Assembly focuses on the discussions on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the international organizations. I would like to note that the joint work implemented with the RA MFA has greatly promoted the parliamentarians’ efficient presentation of the mentioned problems during the recent years. However, taking into account some countries’ positions dictated by the economic interest on the problems of vital importance for our country, the current period obligates to build closer, more concerted and complementary cooperation between the RA parliamentary delegations and diplomatic representations to the Parliamentary Assemblies of different international structures.

With this respect, I greatly highlight both the united and practical work of all the forces represented in the parliament, and the conduct of regular consultations of the parliamentary delegations and the MFA representatives.

My deep conviction is that in the international arena the RA National Assembly has a considerable potential in the implementation of the strategy of foreign policy of our country.

In this regard, I spotlight the parliamentary diplomacy as a powerful factor of the development of inter-state relations.

In parallel with the RA official diplomacy the RA National Assembly can also act more influentially and constructively in cases, when stemming from certain circumstances, the capabilities of the executive power are limited. Besides, the parliament is a binding link between the official diplomacy and the society.

I am convinced that only with joint work we can raise the efficiency of our delegations’ work. Though there is a considerable progress in the cooperation in this direction with the RA MFA, however, there is still a lot to do. I recommend you to establish relevant working groups for elaborating cooperation mechanisms between the National Assembly and the MFA and giving the cooperation more institutional character.

The RA National Assembly can greatly promote the rise of efficiency of Armenia’s foreign policy and the development of inter-state relations through use of inter-parliamentary cooperation mechanisms. We are advancing in that direction and are sure that due to joint and purposeful work we will succeed to reach our common goals.”

Then the awarding ceremony took place. By the order of the RA NA President Galust Sahakyan for in the strengthening of inter-state relations and contribution to diplomatic work Ara Ayvazyan, the RA Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania, Hrachya Aghajanyan, the RA Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, Sargis Ghazaryan, the RA Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Republic of Italy and Tigran Seyranyan, the RA Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Czech Republic, were awarded the RA NA Medal of Honour.