Republican Party of Armenia

 On June 4 the RA NA Speaker Galust Sahakyan met with Didier Burkhalter, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the President of the Swiss Confederation and the Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Welcoming the high-ranking official, the RA NA Speaker highlighted the visit of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office to the regional countries and noted that it was a good opportunity to get acquainted with the regional problems on the spot and to discuss issues of common interest. The Head of the Parliament highly assessed the high level of the Armenian-Swiss inter-state relations and spotlighted the further development and deepening of the inter-parliamentary relations. The NA Speaker has noted that Armenia highly assesses the readiness of Switzerland of contributing to the security and cooperation in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian region, which is also expressed by assuming the chairmanship of Switzerland in the OSCE.

The NA Speaker emphasized the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in the process of the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict as a practical and only format of the negotiation process and reaffirmed Armenia’s wish of regulating the problem through peaceful means. “We condemn the bellicose statements made recently by the OSCE member country, Azerbaijan, which do not promote the efforts made by the Minsk Group aimed at the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem.”

Galust Sahakyan focused on the effective cooperation of the National Assembly and the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

Thanking for the reception Didier Burkhalter, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, the President of the Swiss Confederation, highly appreciated the friendly relations of Armenia and Switzerland, stating with satisfaction that through the years the cooperation develops and strengthens. He deemed important Armenia-OSCE cooperation and thanked the NA Speaker for the support during the chairmanship of Switzerland. Highlighting the security and peace of the region, he underlined that the NK problem should be solved exclusively through peaceful negotiations and stressed that the OSCE supports the activity of the Minsk Group. In his word, Switzerland is ready to contribute to the peaceful settlement of the issue not only during the chairmanship in the OSCE, but also after that.

In the course of the meeting both sides also discussed other issues of bilateral interest. Didier Burkhalter left a note in the Commemoration Book of the NA Honourable Guests.