Republican Party of Armenia

On April 25 the members of the Committees of Parliamentary Cooperation of the RA NA Euronest and Armenia-European Union met with the members of the EU-Armenia Friendship Group of the European Parliament.

Welcoming the guests the Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Artak Zakaryan deemed important the first visit of the Friendship Group to the Armenian Parliament and expressed hope that in the near future such meetings would be held frequently.

In the course of the meeting both sides highlighted the deepening of Armenia-EU relations, the integration process and especially stressed the importance of signing of the Association Agreement for Armenia, as well as the establishment of the Comprehensive Free Trade Area.

The sides considered important the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem, the continuation of the negotiations, and the solution of the issue through military means was deemed inadmissible. The members of the European Parliament emphasized the deepening of democratic reforms in the Nagorno Karabakh, which would promote the peaceful settlement of the problem. In that context the strengthening of democracy in the South Caucasus was also highlighted.

The attendees deemed important the participation of the representatives of the NGOs and civil societies of the Nagorno Karabakh in the programmes of the reinforcement of civil society being implemented within the framework of Euronest.

In the meeting both sides also touched upon the democratic reforms and deepening of democracy in Armenia. In this context the guests highlighted the holding of free and fair elections, underlining that there were things to be done in that direction. The European colleagues expressed readiness to back the implementation of those reforms.

At the end of the meeting in the name of the Armenian MPs Artak Zakaryan expressed willingness to develop and deepen the bilateral relations.