Republican Party of Armenia

On November 5 the Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs, the Head of the NA Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Koryun Nahapetyan and the member of the Delegation Vardan Oskanian met with the Delegation led by the NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai.

Welcoming the guests Koryun Nahapetyan highlighted the conduct of the event “Week of NATO in Armenia”, where took part James Appathurai and his counterparts. Touching upon the current level of the Armenia-NATO cooperation, he underlined that those partnership relations recorded sustainable progress and promised new perspectives. That cooperation is anchored on the values and principles of the establishment of peace within the framework of human rights and fundamental freedoms, provision of freedom and justice, democracy. In the NATO Parliamentary Assembly the Head of the NA Delegation highlighted the continuity of the programme “Partnership for Peace”, the cooperation of the National Assembly and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the participation of Armenia in the international peaceful mission. Koryun Nahapetyan also touched upon the fact contradicting all the international norms: granting pardon and heroizing Ramil Safarov by the Azerbaijani authorities, in that connection the concerns expressed by the NATO General Secretary and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, expressing hope that in relation to this fact, relevant actions will follow these sounded responses.

The NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai noted with satisfaction that in the NATO-Armenia different formats the cooperation was more and more enlivening. He expressed hope that the implementation of different programmes with Armenia and the participation of the Armenian troops in the peacekeeping forces will be continuous.

In the course of the meeting issues pertaining to the regional security and the NKR problem were also discussed. Koryun Nahapetyan and Vardan Oskanian have ensured that the settlement of the NKR problem is possible only through peaceful negotiations based on the international norms and principles, and among them the principle of the nations; self-determination has its important place. “The Nagorno Karabakh Republic with its path of living independent can never be part of Azerbaijan, this is not only the official stance of Armenia, but also the conviction of the whole society”, Koryun Nahapetyan said.

During the meeting the sides also touched upon other issues of the Armenia-NATO cooperation.