On June 29 Mr. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia received Mr. Anthony Godfrey, U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Armenia and the employees of the Embassy. The meeting aimed to determine the staff retraining program and the formation of the political system in the National Assembly, on which an agreement was reached during the meeting of Mr. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and Mr. John Danilovich.

U.S. Charge d'Affaires Mr. Anthony Godfrey informed the President of the National Assembly that Mr. Rudolf Perina will visit Armenia on July 10, temporarily undertaking ambassador’s responsibilities. Touching upon the programs Mr. Godfrey specified that the agreement of the Congress is not needed for their fulfillment, as the finances were envisaged beforehand, taking into consideration the formation of the National Assembly of the fourth convocation. Mr. Godfrey said that with respect to the program of international visits by the U.S. Department of State, two weeks of meetings had been envisaged in Washington and two other cities between the chairmen of the standing committees of the National Assembly and the representatives of the state management system, NGOs and lobbying structures. It is also planned to make packages related to the legislative work and hold seminars for the newly appointed deputies. A staff-retraining program is also envisaged. Mr. Godfrey expressed readiness to support the improvement of the Electoral Code in order to hold the upcoming presidential elections at a high level.

Having given his thanks for the support he received in establishing the institutional power of the National Assembly, Mr. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly, emphasized the specification and expediency of the programs and suggested meeting once again in the near future to compare for debate the preliminary variants of the programs, which both sides will prepare during that period. Mr. Godfrey accepted the proposal.

During the meeting the sides touched upon the proposed amendment to the RA Law on Television and Radio and the issue of Azatutyun (Liberty) radio station broadcasts in that framework. Mr. Godfrey expressed his government’s concern on the possibility of termination of the broadcast of the radio station, noting, that during the parliamentary election campaign the possibility of the Аzatutyun broadcast was highly assessed in the West and within the framework of the Millennium Challenge program. Mentioning his speech related to the bill of the previous day, Mr. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly, noted that the bill has nothing to do with the broadcast of the radio station Аzatutyun. He noted that there is no basis to think of a similar connection or that the Аzatutyun had a negative influence on parliamentary elections - the radio station operated during the elections, and the RPA received the biggest number of votes in its history. The adoption or rejection of the bill debated at the special session had no connection with the broadcast of the Azatutyun. Mr. Torosyan said that he would vote for the adoption of the bill in the first reading, and expressed readiness for the discussion of the draft law in essence to specify the possible issues. The National Assembly does not have the power to address the issue of continuation or termination of the radio station's broadcasts and it would be necessary for those who deal with these issues to be involved.