Republican Party of Armenia

 On May 12 the RA NA President Galust Sahakyan received the members of the Delegation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Welcoming the guests in the National Assembly, Galust Sahakyan expressed hope that this visit would promote the development and strengthening of the Armenian-Dutch friendly relations.

The NA President has noted that there is a big potential of development of relations between Armenia and the Netherlands in different spheres, hence, it is necessary to boost the cooperation especially in the spheres of economy, education and culture. Galust Sahakyan has documented that we should develop the political contacts of the two countries, especially underlining the development of the inter-parliamentary relations.

The NA President has highly assessed the balanced position of the Netherlands on Nagorno Karabakh problem. He has thanked the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the decision made on reaching a common agreement on the own history by Armenia and Turkey on April 9 of this year, by which it calls on Turkey not to distort the history.

Galust Sahakyan has noted that the international community, joining the struggle for recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, will condemn the genocides perpetrated in the past and will prevent the new massacres. In the NA President’s opinion, the civilization should have an influence on the politics, but not on the contrary.

The Head of the Parliament has also informed the guests that the programme of creating parliamentary committees against genocides has been initiated by the RA National Assembly, which will be submitted to the parliaments of the progressive states. It is designed by the programme that all the parliaments should have similar committees which will struggle with coordinated work against the genocides occurring in the world.

Thanking the Head of the parliament for the reception, Harry van Bommel has characterized their visit to Armenia important and historical, noting that it will become the start of cooperation of the parliaments of the two countries. He noted that most of the members of the delegation took part in the events dedicated to the Armenian Genocide Centennial. On the same days disputes and debates concerning the recognition of the Genocide were held in the Dutch Parliament. The Head of the Delegation has noted that as a Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives they always voice the issues concerning the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the problem of Nagorno Karabakh. At the end of the meeting the members of the delegation took a tour in the National Assembly and were in the NA Plenary Session Hall.