Armen Ashotyan: We Expect European Parliament Will Ratify the New Agreement with RA until 2019 Elections

• 01.31.2018, 15:53
•  Europe,  World,  Armenia

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On January 30, the Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Armen Ashotyan being on a working visit in Brussels had meetings with his counterparts of the European Parliament, official page of Parliament reports.

During the meeting with the Co-Chair of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC) Sajjad Karim the parties touched upon the results of the 17^th Meeting of the EU-Armenia PCC that took place in December 2017, discussed the agenda items of the parliamentary cooperation. In the current year the priorities of the EU-Armenia cooperation, the joint actions and programmes directed to the development of relations were also highlighted.

Touching upon the existing level of the parliamentary cooperation the sides have stressed the provisions of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement which relate to the transformation of the existing ways of the parliamentary cooperation to partnership format. In this context the role of the parliamentary oversight mechanisms and the efforts directed to their effective use were highlighted.

The Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations met with Sandra Kalniete, Vice Chairwoman of the EPP Political Group of the European Parliament. The priorities of the political cooperation at bilateral level were discussed. With regards to the ongoing reforms in Armenia the parties emphasized the principle of inclusiveness of the social component. The prior role of the parliamentary partnership in ensuring the atmosphere of trust was also underlined.

Within the framework of the four-day visit in Brussels Armen Ashotyan also met with Cristian Dan Preda, Coordinator of the Foreign Affairs of the EPP Faction.

During the talk the sides highlighted the signing of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement and the provision of the ratification fluent process in the national parliaments. In this regard Armena Ashotyan noted: "We expect that the European Parliament will ratify the new Agreement with Armenia until the European Parliament elections, 2019.”

The interlocutors also referred to the challenges of the regional security and the effective cooperation between the parliamentarians.