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On October 4, the OSCE PA Autumn Meeting began the work in the capital of Kyrgyzstan Bishkek. The theme Promoting Security Dialogue in Central Asia and Beyond was debated.

The Head of the RA NA Delegation to the Assembly Hermine Naghdalyan and the Member of the Delegation Arman Saghatelyan took part in the works of the Meeting.

At the first session the theme Countering new challenges and threats in border areas through confidence-building and regional co-operation was debated.

In their speeches the RA parliamentarians once again underlined that Azerbaijan despite the will of the considerable part of the OSCE countries initiated and implemented the closure of Baku and Yerevan OSCE Offices which in its turn restricted the possibility of fulfilling works in supporting the settlement of the conflict and the border security.

During the debate in the format of the open dispute the delegates of the OSCE member countries – Canada, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Turkey and other countries expressed their viewpoints, touching upon border areas and security threats and the opportunities of the restoration of security between the countries with the participation and initiative of the OSCE.

In her speech Hermine Naghdalyan highly assessed the work being done by the OSCE regional missions in the deepening and strengthening of regional security in the Central Asian countries. In overcoming the regional challenges she emphasized the initiatives of the political leaderships of the Central Asian countries. Hermine Naghdalyan talked about the closure of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, noting that the closure of the recent wide scale mission of the region in the context of the fulfillment of the OSCE obligations not only isolated Armenia from the cooperation with the OSCE, but essentially restricted the investment of the local missions, in that issue the possible work would be done on both sides of the border by the countries and the societies.

The Head of the NA Delegation has added that Armenia, being committed to the fulfillment of its OSCE obligations, has jointly worked out with the Secretariat of the structure Cooperation Programme of Armenia which includes the main directions of the closed office’s activities. “It testifies to the fact that we are ready to continue the constructive and positive cooperation with the OSCE,” Hermine Naghdalyan underlined.

In the solution of the security issues she underlined the effective use of the OSCE tools, as the control of the armament, the events directed to the security and trust enhancement, the control of the borders, etc. In that context she once again voiced that for the violations of the ceasefire and restoration of security the decisions of Vienna and Saint Petersburg are not made yet which is an important guarantee for the fulfillment and preservation of the trilateral ceasefire signed between the NK, Azerbaijan and the RA in Bishkek in 1994.

In his speech Arman Sagahtelyan expressed conviction that the mandate of the OSCE missions can have the most important role, and our country will always support the expansion of that mandate. The MP has noted that the neighbouring countries of Armenia act in the West and in the East, choosing non-constructive means: transport blockade, enemy and aggressive rhetoric, reached to a state policy level. In the second session of the Meeting the theme Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Mediterranean: Addressing Migration, Trade and Environmental Challenges was discussed in the Second Session.

The problems of the refugees, the issues regarding the economic developments, climatic changes, cyber security and information security were touched upon.

The Member of the RA NA Delegation Arman Sagahtelyan presented in detail the RA situation in accepting the refugees, especially the immigrants from Syria, noting that being a country of not powerful economic possibilities, Armenia is the third in Europe in the series of the countries receiving Syrian refugees by the correlation of the number of population. About 20.000 refugees out of them received citizenship, political, social, economic support and integrated in our society.

Arman Saghatelyan referred to the humanitarian aid shown by the RA, the unfailing work of our consulate in Aleppo as a witness, who had visited Syria several times during the war, also presenting his information. He underlined the thought that the transit countries should provide the migrants' security, completely protecting them from violence, regardless of their ethnic and religious origin. Arman Saghatelyan considered unacceptable the fact that the migrants and the refugees will become a matter of trade or negotiation between the countries.

The Head of the Armenian delegation Hermine Naghdalyan talked about the information on the transport corridors voiced before that by the Azerbaijani delegates, noting that the initiatives on the international and regional transport corridors should promote the provision of the universal and inseparable security of the OSCE region and be consonant with the OSCE our obligations.

“If such initiatives or draft laws are not inclusive or are not directed to the deepening of divisive lines, then they should not have legal force for our organisation, they contradict its values and the comprehensive security concept,” Hermine Naghdalyan said.

She has reminded the Hamburg decision on the effective government and connection of the OSCE Committee of Ministers, where the establishment of the relations problems is declared as an important part of the economic cooperation through promoting transport. According to the Head of the delegation, the economic cooperation should be based on the solidarity, transparency, equal rights and non-discriminative partnership.

“If the actions in the economic sphere have negative influence on other member states, we should aspire to reach that influence to minimum. It is about Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project. The negative example is also an example. Those projects had not been worked out with one reason: deepen the isolation of my country, but instead of that only deepened the instability and the distrust in our region,” Hermine Naghdalyan.

The Head of the Armenian delegation Hermine Naghdalyan talked about the information on the transport corridors voiced before that by the Azerbaijani delegates, noting that the initiatives on the international and regional transport corridors should promote the provision of the universal and inseparable security of the OSCE region and be consonant with the OSCE our obligations.

“If such initiatives or draft laws are not inclusive or are not directed to the deepening of divisive lines, then they should not have legal force for our organisation, they contradict its values and the comprehensive security concept,” Hermine Naghdalyan said.

She has reminded the Hamburg decision on the effective government and connection of the OSCE Committee of Ministers, where the establishment of the relations problems is declared as an important part of the economic cooperation through promoting transport. According to the Head of the delegation, the economic cooperation should be based on the solidarity, transparency, equal rights and non-discriminative partnership.

“If the actions in the economic sphere have negative influence on other member states, we should aspire to reach that influence to minimum. It is about Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project. The negative example is also an example. Those projects had not been worked out with one reason: deepen the isolation of my country, but instead of that only deepened the instability and the distrust in our region,” Hermine Naghdalyan.