On February 5 the delegation headed by Mr. Göran Lennmarker, President of the OSCE PA, and Mrs. Tone Tingsgard, Vice-President of the OSCE PA, Mr. Spencer Oliver, Secretary General of the OSCE PA, Ms. Tina Schon, Deputy Secretary General of the OSCE PA, Mr. Klas Bergman, Director of Communications, Mr. Tomas Hörberg, Advisor to the President of the Swedish Parliament, who were on the delegation, met in the National Assembly with Mr. Vahan Hovhannisyan, head of the NA delegation in the OSCE PA, and Mr. Artashes Geghamyan, member of the delegation.

The meeting was focused on the issues of the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, regional energy security and electoral processes.

Mr. Lennmarker noted that the OSCE emphasizes the holding of free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections in Armenia, which will be of great importance in the issue of the development of the democracy in Armenia. It was noted that Mrs. Tone Tingsgard, Vice-President of the OSCE PA, will be appointed as the head of the Observation Mission of the OSCE PA in Armenia. Touching upon the issues of the regional energy security Mr. Lennmarker emphasized the importance of the issue for Armenia noting that the issues of the energy security are widely debated in Europe as well as in the world. Expressing his concern towards the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict Mr. Lennmarker noted that the golden opportunity of the settlement of the conflict is being missed. He is convinced that the proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group are the best solutions of the settlement of the conflict till now. In the opinion of the President of the OSCE PA, it is time to get mutual agreement in the settlement of the conflict, which is important for the conflicting countries as well as for the region and Europe.

Welcoming the guests Mr. Vahan Hovhannisyan, Vice-President of the National Assembly, highly assessed the importance of the activity of the OSCE in the regional processes. Mr. Hovhannisyan highlighted the holding of the free and fair elections and the presence of the Observation Mission, welcoming Mrs. Tingsgard’s appointment in this context, who is famous to the public for being fair, unbiased and strict observer. They also touch upon the reforms of the Electoral Code, it was noted that a number of reforms had been carried out which make more transparent and controllable the process of the elections. The amendment, according to which equal broadcast will be provided to all political forces by the state as well as by the private TV stations during the pre-electoral campaign, was highlighted.

Touching upon the settlement of the NK issue, the NA Vice-President noted that from the end of the 90s the Minsk Group did an enormous work and the Minsk Group co-chairs presented several valuable proposals, which were adopted by Armenia and refused by Azerbaijan, and which impedes any positive move in the negotiation process. Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, recently again made aggressive and bellicose statements, and they not only prevent the peaceful settlement, but also create an explosive situation, which contradicts the rules of the OSCE and European ideology. According to Mr. Hovhannisyan, the renewal of the war will have catastrophic consequences first of all for Azerbaijan. In this aspect, N. Yalchintash’s, head of the OSCE Group of Turkish Parliament, appeal addressed to Azerbaijan to take back territories’ “belonging” to it by weapon is preoccupying and unacceptable.

Mr. Artashes Geghamyan noted that in the basis of torpedoing the settlements of the Karabakh conflict by Azerbaijan is the problem of energy. According to him, Azerbaijan since the signing of the armistice in 1994 avoids the peaceful settlement for a variety of reasons to be able to construct the oil pipeline of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and the gas pipeline of Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum. If pipelines pass through Karabakh and Armenia, their construction would cost cheaper for about 1 billion dollars. Unfortunately, the international community and the international structures didn’t put pressure on Azerbaijan that time, which now they put towards Russia, related to the deliveries from Russia to Europe. According to Mr. Geghamyan, the impunity and indifference of the international community have led to that, and today Azerbaijan launched the construction of the railway Kars-Akhalkalak-Tbilisi-Baku worth of 700-800 million, while the existing and proved its economic expediency and not demanding additional investments in the construction Kars-Gumri-Tbilisi-Baku railway doesn’t function because of the blockade of Armenia which is underway already 17 years. Mr. Geghamyan noted that the opposition might have insuperable disagreements with authorities in any issue, except the NK issue. According to Mr. Geghamyan, the peaceful settlement demands universal solution, which should be imposed to the sides within the framework of the obligations undertaken in the Council of Europe. In Mr. Geghamyan’s opinion, the process of the settlement of the NK conflict also depends on holding the forthcoming elections in Armenia in accordance with European standards.

The delegation headed by Mr. Göran Lennmarker, President of the OSCE PA, met with Mr. Armen Roustamyan, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations. Mr. Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of the OSCE Office in Armenia, was present at the meeting.

Welcoming the guests Mr. Roustamyan presented the fields of the activity of the committee headed by him, noting, that within the framework of the responsibility of the committee are the development of inter-parliamentary relations and the implementation of parliamentary diplomacy in the foreign policy. All the international treaties adopted by the Parliament passed and pass through the committee, and joining them Armenia much more deepened the process of the Euro integration. Basically all the documents, which enable Armenia to have laws in compliance with all European standards, are adopted. It was noted that the amended Constitution opened a new door for the fulfillment of the obligations. In this context Mr. Roustamyan noted that the subcommittee carrying out works with the international organizations, integration problems and on the issues of the localization of the international experience functions in the committee. There are subcommittees on the Karabakh issues, on the protection of the interests of the citizens of RA living abroad and Armenians as well as on the economic relations and regional issues.

Considering the European integration one of the priorities of the foreign policy of Armenia Mr. Roustamyan noted that the Action Plan of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), signed in Brussels, opens new perspectives for the development of Armenia-EU relations in all directions.

Presenting a position on the settlement of the NK conflict and highlighting the role of the international structures as well as the parliamentary organizations in the settlement of the issue Mr. Roustamyan expressed his view that in the settlement of the conflict are important the contents of the proposed solutions as well as the atmosphere created in the society - as far as how authorities prepare the society for the compromise. As the policy of the EU are open borders, free trade, in Mr. Roustamyan’s opinion, the settlement of the conflict is possible in conditions of mutual partnership, inter-parliamentary cooperation, regional and economic cooperation. It was noted that the Committee organized parliamentary hearings on the settlement of the NK conflict two years ago. According to Mr. Roustamyan, such open debates, related to this issue had not been held since 1992.

Mr. Roustamyan considered the forthcoming elections as the most important test for Armenia in the context of democracy. According to him, it is necessary to do the utmost for the elections to be held free and transparent.

Mr. Lennmarker noted that the European integration is based on the respect towards general values, so the importance of holding the elections in accordance with the European standards is emphasized. In the issue of the settlement of the conflicts Mr. Lennmarker highlighted the activation of the dialogue between neighbouring countries, the role of the parliamentary diplomacy and the development of the inter-parliamentary relations.

Other issues were also debated during the meeting.