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On March 14, the Speaker of the RA National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan received the delegation led by the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili being in Armenia on an official visit. The meeting was held in an expanded format.

Welcoming the guests Ararat Mirzoyan expressed confidence that the representative visit of the delegation led by the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili would be a new impetus in the further deepening and strengthening of the Armenian-Georgian friendly relations. The Speaker of the National Assembly highlighted the brotherly peoples' traditional and special ties based on the common history, cultural and spiritual values. The Head of the parliament also distinguished the activation of the ties between the parliaments of Armenia and Georgia, noting that in the near future the Parliamentary Friendship Group would be formed.

Talking about the importance of the cooperation on the inter-parliamentary platforms, Ararat Mirzoyan has noted that the delegations always support each other in the problems admissible for both sides. In this context, by the assessment of the Head of the parliament, in the issues of different positions the delegations should be guided by the principle of at least not harming each other.

The NA President touched upon the regional security issues. With regards to Nagorno Karabakh problem the RA NA Speaker has underlined that the authorities of our country are for the peaceful negotiation settlement of the problem: in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, adding that Georgia as OSCE participant state, has joined the settlement of the problem in the Minsk Group format. “Thus, from now on we should make efforts in order to have as guidelines the balanced and neutral formulations in all statements on Nagorno Karabakh,” Ararat Mirzoyan underlined. In this context he expressed concern about the joint statement of 29 October 2018 of the Foreign Ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia, where the only one principle of the conflict was mentioned. According to the NA Speaker, some wordings voiced by the President of Georgia during the visit to Baku recently also caused concern in the Armenian society. In this respect the Head of the parliament considered unacceptable the generalized approaches for different conflicts.

The RA NA Speaker emphasized the further activation of the cooperation in a number of spheres and the implementation of joint programmes, referred to the Armenian community's activity, underscoring that through many centuries the Armenians had their significant contribution to the economic, political, cultural life of Georgia and could serve as a reliable bridge in more strengthening of the two countries' relations.

The President of Georgia positively assessed the role of the parliamentary diplomacy and also considered necessary the active cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries and the mutual visits.

“It is important that our stable relations continue developing irrespective of the change of political forces. We, as neighbouring countries, should have close relations. Those relations should further deepen and expand,” Salome Zurabishvili said.

Touching upon the concerns of the NA Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan Salome Zurabishvili presented her position, also highlighting the settlement of the regional conflicts exclusively through peaceful means and in accordance with the norms of international law. According to her, the regional conflicts impede the joint progress.

Ararat Mirzoyan has noted that in the near future he is ready to gladly receive his Georgian colleague, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze.

At the end of the meeting the President of Georgia left a note in the Book of Honourable Guests of the RA National Assembly.