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On February 15, the President of the RA National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of France to Armenia Jonathan Lacôte.

Highlighting the current level of the Armenian-French relations the President of the Parliament has underlined that the historical-cultural centuries-old ties between the two peoples and the presence of the Armenian community of France are on their basis.

Ararat Mirzoyan has documented with satisfaction that France is the first country in the world that has recognized the Armenian Genocide with force of law. In this context the Head of the parliament emphasized recently the reaffirmation of the commitment of France’s President Macron on declaring April 24 National Day for the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims.

Talking about the Nagorno Karabakh problem, the Head of the legislative body highly assessed the practical efforts of France as OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair in the peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Touching upon the bilateral agenda the President of the National Assembly also attached importance to the deepening of the Armenian-French trade-economic and cultural ties. In terms of the development of bilateral economic relations the signing of the Agreement on the establishment of the French Development Agency in Armenia was evaluated.

Thanking for the warm reception Jonathan Lacôte has expressed readiness for reaching the the bilateral relations to a new qualitative level, taking into consideration the fact that Armenia is already a country that has turned into a parliamentary government system.

With regards to the deputies’ cooperation of the two countries the Ambassador has noted that there is a big number of deputies of Armenian origin in the French Parliament, who actively cooperate with the representatives of the Armenian community of France. According to him, besides the deputies of Armenian origin, the French MPs also consider themselves friends of Armenia.

The sides spotlighted the expansion of the inter-parliamentary cooperation, the effective cooperation of the legislative bodies at the level of Friendship Groups, as well as the relevant Committees.

The interlocutors also touched upon the issues relating to the ratification process of Armenia-European Union Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement and beginning the dialogue on the EU entry visa liberalization for the citizens of Armenia. The Ambassador has assured that the item of the Agreement ratification is on the agenda of the National Assembly of France, also underscoring the adoption of the document will not delay.