Republican Party of Armenia

On September 1, the RA NA Speaker Galust Sahakyan received the delegation led by Els Van Hoof, MP of the Chamber of Representatives of the Kingdom of Belgium , Head of the Belgium-Armenia parliamentary friendship group.
Welcoming the guests, the NA Speaker highlighted the advancement of interaction and dialogue between legislative bodies of the two countries, which, according to him, promotes the development of interstate relations.
Galust Sahakyan expressed gratitude to the Belgian authorities for adopting the resolution on recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in July 2015.
The Head of the Parliament highlighted the coming visit of Belgian MPs to the NKR.
“These visits neutralize the information isolation of Artsakh and make Artsakh people’s voice heard in Europe, which strives for the recognition of freedom, justice and right to self-determination.”, - said Galust Sahakyan.
Speaking about NK conflict, the parliamentary head touched upon the 4-day war in April and noted that Azerbaijan flagrantly violated the ceasefire agreement inflicting many casualties. In this context the Head of the National Assembly emphasized that the peaceful settlement of this conflict is one of the most important priorities of our country’s foreign policy. According to the Head of the Parliament, Armenia sees the settlement of the conflict exclusively through peaceful means under the auspice of mediatory mission of the OSCE Mind Group Co-Chairs.
Attaching importance to the cooperation of the two country’s parliamentarians within the international organizations, Galust Sahakyan noted that during the PACE Winter Session Armenia received a great support from the Belgian delegation to PACE at the voting against the one-sided resolutions on Karabakh submitted by Azerbaijani lobbyists distorting the reality.
Els Van Hoof, Head of the Belgium-Armenia parliamentary friendship group, expressing gratitude for the warm reception, highlighted the intensification of the Belgium-Armenia parliamentary friendship group activities, the exchange of mutual experience between the parliamentarians. Spotlighting the adoption of the resolution recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide, he noted that all forms of genocides should be condemned for the exclusion of their repetition.
Speaking about the NK conflict, Els Van Hoof quoted Federica Mogherini’s words: “At the beginning of April, the violence surged to a level that was unprecedented since the ceasefire agreement in 1994.”
Mrs Hoof mentioned that they believe in the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ activities and added that they see the settlement of the NK conflict through peaceful negotiations within the OSCE Minsk Group. She stated that a political dialogue should take place for the conflict settlement and expressed willingness within their competence to contribute to the conflict settlement.