On June 24 the working visit of President of the National Assembly Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan to Strasbourg began. He had meetings with the leaders of the Council of the Europe and with the leaders of political forces presented in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

In the morning President of the National Assembly Mr. H. Abrahamyan met Secretary of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe Mr. Gianni Buquicchio.The head of the Armenian Parliament highly assessed the role of the Venice Commission and its Secretary in complying the bills being under discussion with European standards. In that context he highlighted the role of CE Venice Commission for bringing to life the amendments made in the Criminal Code. During the meeting the sides agreed that Armenia had already made a great progress in complying its legislation with the Europeans standards, and now the time had come to correctly apply and implement this legislation.

Afterwards President of the National Assembly Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan met CE Commissioner For Human Rights Mr. Thomas Hammarberg. The head of the Parliament also expressed his gratitude to him for his support and constructive criticism that he had shown to the Armenian issues. He stressed that Armenia was a full and equal member of the Council of Europe and it was obliged to implement diligently its obligations within the framework of the Council of Europe. He also highlighted the united efforts of all CE countries in keeping high rating and not harming the reputation of the organization. During the talk the sides also discussed the activities Ad-hoc Committee on the Events Occurred on 1-2 March 2008.

In the morning of June 24, President of the National Assembly Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan had also meetings with head of the United European Lefts group Mr. Tiny Kox and head of the European Democratic Party Luc Van Den Brande in PACE. During the meetings the leader of the Armenian Parliament presented to his interlocutors the details of the procedure of declaring General Amnesty by the National Assembly. He stressed that it was an effective outcome which was possible to reach due to friendly and sincere support of our colleagues in PACE. At interlocutor’s request Mr. Abrahamyan also touched upon the problems of the South Caucasus region.

In the afternoon of June 24 the President of the National Assembly also met PACE President Lluis Maria de Puig. During the discussion the sides highly assessed the progress recorded recently in reaching inner political agreement in Armenia. The interlocutors agreed that, nevertheless, there were still a lot of to do. The Council of Europe, its experts’ help and other instruments provided by that structure would be an indispensable colleague of the Armenian people.

After the meeting with PACE President, Mr. Abrahamyan had a briefing with the representatives of media.

In the second half of June 24 the President of the National Assembly will meet with Chairman of European Liberals and Democrats Alliance Group in PACE Mr. Màtyàs Eörsi , Chairperson of European Democratic Group Mr. David Wilshire, President of the European Court of Human Rights Mr. Jean-Paul Costa.

The same day at 6 p.m. by Strasbourg time, (at 9 p.m. by Yerevan time) President of the National Assembly Mr. Hovik Abrahamyan will attend PACE Session, during which the Armenian issue will be discussed. It is scheduled that he will make a speech after voting the final discussion.