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On September 22 the seventh sitting of the Armenian-Russian Friendship Parliamentary Club was held, and the theme of the discussion was “The Armenian and Russian Peoples’ Cultural Ties: Developments and Perspectives.” The Special Representative on International and Cultural Cooperation to the RF President Mikhail Shvydkoy was invited to the sitting. The RA NA Deputy Speaker Hermine Naghdalyan, the RA NA deputies Khachatur Kokobelyan, Karine Atshemyan, Ruzanna Muradyan, Tevan Poghosyan, Armen Karapetyan, representatives of NGOs, figures of cinema and theatre attended the sitting.

Opening the sitting Hermine Naghdalyan has noted that active debates are always held over the different issues regarding the Armenian-Russian cooperation in the club.

Mikhail Shvydkoy talked about the Armenian-Russian warm relations, highly assessing first of all, the human warmth. In his word, the Armenian-Russian relations have always been deep, and Armenia being in complicated geo-political position, is also not deprived of globalization problems. He especially underlined the close relations between the Armenian Apostolic and Russian Orthodox churches, adding that the church is a connecting link in the cultural and humanitarian cooperation of the two countries’ peoples. The guest referred to the Armenian community, underscoring that the Armenians living in Russia, preserve their national identity and traditions. Mr Shvydkoy talked about the importance of spreading or knowing the Russian language in Armenia. To his conviction, Armenia and Russia have energy, military, cultural and economic many commonalities which in its turn also should result in the spreading of the Russian language.

The Deputy Speaker Hermine Naghdalyan also underscored that the bases of the Armenian-Russian cooperation are deep, but new perspectives are necessary for more developing them, and additional efforts should be made for this purpose. In this context Mrs Naghdalyan highlighted the role of the youth.

During the discussions the sides talked about the perspectives and achievements of the accession to the Customs Union, the events being implemented in Russia in connection with the centenary of the Armenian Genocide and a number of issues concerning the Armenian-Russian friendship.