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On December 13, the RA NA parliamentary delegation led by the RA NA Deputy Speaker, the Head of the RA NA Armenia-Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia Friendship Group Eduard Sharmazanov met with the members of Lithuania-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group within the framework of the working visit to Lithuania. The delegation is comprised of the RA NA deputies Samvel Farmanyan and Suren Manukyan.

The RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Lithuania Tigran Mkrtchyan also attended the meeting.

In the course of the meeting the members of the delegation highly assessed the fact of being the first to recognize the independence of the Republic of Armenia in the world. Lithuania is the only country among the Baltic countries by now that has recognized the Armenian Genocide. They expressed their gratitude to the Lithuanian parliamentarians for supporting the holding of the exhibition dedicated to the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide in Vilnius Genocide Museum.

The sides highlighted the development of the Armenian-Lithuanian inter-parliamentary relations, the active cooperation of the Parliamentary Friendship Groups, as well as the more active work of the two countries’ delegations on the international parliamentary platforms.

The parties touched upon the regional problems: they emphasized the exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflicts.

The signing of the RA-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement on November 24 was also referred to. The RA NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov expressed hope that Lithuania as the first state that had recognized the RA independence in the world, within short period, without procrastination would also ratify the RA-EU Agreement.

The interlocutors also exchanged thoughts on one of the most important issues of the RA foreign political agenda – the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide. The RA NA Deputy Speaker has noted that next year sees the 70^th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by the UN General Assembly and has added that the genocide is the greatest crime committed against mankind which has no statute of limitations.

“Lithuania belongs to the number of the countries that has recognized the Armenian Genocide. We hope that the parliaments of other Baltic countries will follow the example of Lithuania. I will note with regret that today’s Turkish authorities pursue denial policy. The denialism is equal to committing genocide. We, the parliamentarians, are obliged to be united in fighting against condemnation of genocides, as well as the Turkish denialism,” Eduard Sharmazanov stated.

The RA NA Deputy Speaker invited the members of Lithuania-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group to Armenia in 2018.