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On June 2, the Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Armen Ashotyan received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Finland to Armenia Arja Makkonen and the Commercial Counsellor of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs Sara Ohls.

Welcoming the guests in the RA National Assembly, Armen Ashotyan highlighted the activation of cooperation between the relevant Committees of the parliaments of the two countries.

In his word, the Committee Chair touched upon the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem and underlined that the Republic of Armenia highly assesses the balanced and unbiased position of the Republic of Finland in the peaceful settlement process.

In this context, Armen Ashotyan underlined the role and importance of the targeted statements related to Azerbaijan’s deconstructive and adventurous policy of thwarting the negotiation process. The Committee Chair considered inadmissible the spreading of anti-Armenian moods at state level in Azerbaijan.

Regarding the issue of the Armenian Genocide international recognition, Armen Ashotyan underlined the fact that first of all, the Genocide recognition is a step in prevention of new crimes against mankind. The Committee Chair expressed hope that the international recognition process of the Armenian Genocide will also launch in the Parliament of Finland.

In the course of the meeting, the parties also referred to the RA external political agenda, particularly, the RA-EU relations. In this context, the Ambassador has informed that in Finland, they observe and are aware of the developments and processes of the RA-EU relationship.

Armen Ashotyan underlined the importance of the pre-signing of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement in Yerevan on March 21, as well as the signing of the Agreement within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in November 2017.

In the context of the RA-EU relations the Committee Chair has noted that the signing of the new Framework Agreement with the European Union is important not only for Armenia, but also for the EU, which is also expressed at the meetings with the EU officials.

Talking about the relations existing with the European organizations, the parties also touched upon the closing of the OSCE Office in Yerevan and the destructive policy of Azerbaijan in that matter.

“The exercise of veto within the OSCE framework by Azerbaijan once again speaks about the destructive policy of Azerbaijan,” Armen Ashotyan stated.

During the meeting the parties also talked about the regional policy problems, the crisis situation existing in the Near East was also discussed.

At the end of the meeting both sides expressed hope that the cooperation would become closer in the future.