Republican Party of Armenia

 The working visit of the delegation led by the RA NA President Galust Sahakyan to the Republic of France continues. Let us remind that the delegation comprises of the RA NA deputies Vahram Baghdasaryan, Ara Babloyan, Karen Avagyan and Armen Rustamyan. On November 25 the delegation of the RA National Assembly met with Gérard Larcher, the President of the Senate of the Republic of France. During the meeting Galust Sahakyan congratulated Mr Larcher on being elected President of the Senate of the Republic of France. Touching upon the Armenian-French relations, Galust Sahakyan has noted with satisfaction that today those relations have reached to special level, having as a basis the historical-cultural centuries-old ties existing between the two peoples. He has also noted that the big and influential Armenian community of France is a firm bridge connecting each other the two countries. In the word of the Head of the legislative body of the Republic of Armenia, in February of 1992 since the establishment of diplomatic relations the high ranking political dialogue has become a firm basis for close and effective cooperation in the economic, cultural, educational, scientific and other spheres. Galust Sahakyan once again has also documented that Armenia highly assesses the weighty role of France in the international arena, particularly, its involvement in the format of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement as OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair. Talking about the process of the Artsakh conflict peaceful settlement, the NA President has noted that the conflict should be settled exclusively through peaceful means on the basis of the principles of the international law. The President of the Parliament has expressed concern over the fact that Azerbaijan does not share such approaches trying in any way to fail the efforts made by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and keeping the region in tense situation. The NA President Galust Sahakyan talked about the helicopter of the NKR Defense Army that was shot down by the Azerbaijani armed forces, qualifying those provoking actions as a gross violation of ceasefire. He has added that the action taking human lives should be unequivocally condemned by the international community. Galust Sahakyan has invited the President of the Senate of the Republic of France to Armenia to take part in the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide to be held in April 2015. The Head of the RA legislative body has expressed hope that the President of the French Senate will be consistent in presentation of the new bill of the law condemning the denial of the Genocide and in its adoption.

Gérard Larcher, the President of the Senate of the Republic of France, thanked the Armenian delegation for visiting the Senate and has assured them present high level of the Armenian-French relations will continue to rise as a result of close cooperation of the parliaments.

The NA President of the Republic of Armenia also met with Patrick Devedjian, the NA deputy of France, the President of the General Council of Hauts-de-Seine, an economically more developed region.

On the same day the RA National Assembly delegation also visited the Armenian Apostolic Saint Hovhannes Mkrtich/John the Baptist Church of Paris. Then the delegation led by the National Assembly President Galust Sahakyan has been in the Yerevan Park of Paris, where the members of the delegation laid flowers in front of Komitas statue.