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On April 12 the Vice President of the National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov met with the politicians and political scientists, who arrived in Armenia from the Baltic countries to take part tomorrow in the conference on the theme “Armenia: Geo-Political and Integration Perspectives.” The Head of the NGO “Integration and Development” Aram Safaryan conveyed an invitation to Eduard Sharmazanov for taking part in the conference.

The NA President has assured that Armenia pays big attention to the integration policy, realizing that in the globalization era it is not possible to face alone the existing problems, be it in the post-Soviet territory, in the Eastern Europe or in the EU countries. The rich experience of the Baltic countries on the path of integration, by Mr Sharmazanov’s assessment, can be useful and instructive, and the conference to be held will be a new dimension for taking practical steps of cooperation.

In the words of the MP of the Latvian Seim Nikolay Kabanov, there are good preconditions for implementing mutually beneficial programmes in the sphere of higher education and tourism, and the potential of increasing the volumes of goods turnover is big. Eduard Sharmazanov, who is also the Chairman of Armenia-Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia Friendship Group, has agreed that these indices of cooperation need improvement for the friendly countries with many common features. In the name of Armenian side he expressed readiness to promote all programmes of cooperation and integration.

The guests were interested in Armenia’s European integration process. Eduard Sharmazanov underlined that both European and Eurasian integration were important for Armenia, observing them directions adding to each other and opposing each other. The interlocutors also touched upon the problem of closed borders. Mr Sharmazanov has deemed inadmissible that Turkey, which being a country seeking the EU membership, keeps closed the border with the neighbouring country. By the guests’ conviction, in the territory of the CoE and the OSCE, where Armenia is also involved, united principles should also function.

Speaking about the Armenian Genocide, the former MP of Lithuania, political analyst Algirdas Paleckis considered as his duty to raise that issue and reach the international recognition of the Armenians’ Genocide. The analyst also deemed an undeniable fact that the Nagorno Karabakh was an independent state prescribed by the right of self-determination.