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On February 25 the RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan received Vangelis Meimarakis, Speaker of the Parliament of the Hellenic Republic, who arrived in Armenia on a two-day official visit.

At the beginning of the meeting the NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan awarded the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament the NA Medal of Honour for the big contribution in the strengthening of traditional friendly relations and deepening inter-state relations between Armenia and Greece.

Welcoming his counterpart and highlighting his official visit to Armenia, the NA Speaker has congratulated Mr Meimarakis for enjoying the NA High award and noted that our country highlights the enlargement of bilateral and multilateral relations with Greece and the development of high level political dialogue. “Today the Armenian-Greek relations are at high level, and there is a big potential, as well as opportunities for their enlargement and rapprochement,” Hovik Abrahamyan said. To his conviction, in further enlargement and deepening of the Armenian-Greek inter-state cooperation special role is reserved to the development and deepening of relations between the two legislative bodies. He has documented with satisfaction that today the Armenian-Greek inter-parliamentary relations are rather actively developing, and Parliamentary Friendship Groups exist in the parliaments of the two countries. “Armenia is concerned about boosting the inter-parliamentary cooperation not only in the bilateral plane, but also multilateral. We attach special attention to the deepening of cooperation in different international organizations,” Hovik Abrahamyan noted. The NA Speaker has highlighted the cooperation with Greece also in the format of relations with the European Union, noting that Armenia is determined to continuously deepen and expand the relations with the EU. The Speaker of the Parliament deemed necessary the development of the bilateral trade-economic relations, noting that their level does not reflect the existing potential for cooperation. “The boosting and enlargement of cooperation with Greece in different spheres of economy is of a great importance for Armenia,” the NA Speaker said.

Thanking for enjoying the RA NA Medal of Honour, the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament highly assessed the high level relations existing between Armenia and Greece and the centuries-old traditional friendship. He deemed necessary the further development of bilateral ties and deepening them in various directions. In strengthening of inter-state relations he also highlighted the deepening and enlargement of cooperation between the parliaments and the role of parliamentary diplomacy. To his conviction, the role of parliaments is great in the issues of strengthening democracy, human rights and rule of law. The Head of the Hellenic Parliament has noted that the Armenian-Greek cooperation in international organizations is on good bases. He also considered important the development of economic cooperation. As Speaker of the Parliament of the presiding country in the EU Council, Vangelis Meimarakis noted that Greece would do its best to strengthen and deepen Armenia-EU relations. “Nothing will impede for continuing our cooperation with Armenia and considering Armenia to be Europe,” the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament said.

In the course of the meeting the sides discussed regional problems, deeming necessary the settlement of conflicts through peaceful negotiations. Vangelis Meimarakis has stressed that Greece sees the settlement of the NK conflict only within the OSCE Minsk Group. The interlocutors touched upon other issues of bilateral interest.

At the end of the meeting the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament left a note in the Book of Honourable Guests of the National Assembly.