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On June 11, the delegation headed by the RA NA Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan met with the Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden Peter Eriksson.

The sides underlined that after the revolution of April 2018 abrupt positive changes in the Armenian-Swedish relations took place. The NA President Ararat Mirzoyan underlined that Sweden was one of the first countries that after the velvet revolution stood next to Armenia, especially underscoring the assistance of the Swedish side to the support of the snap parliamentary elections held on 9 December 2018 and the development programmes of the National Assembly needs. The NA Speaker has highly assessed the decision of Sweden to reconsidering its former policy and the transition of the bilateral programmes with Armenia to the format, which gives an opportunity to make the assistance more voluminous and targeted.

Minister Eriksson stressed the need of deepening the Armenian-Swedish economic ties, as well as touched upon the expansion opportunities of cooperation in the sphere of environment and waste disposal. He also welcomed the commitment of the authorities to implement reforms in the judicial system of Armenia.

On June 12, the NA delegation met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Margot Wallström.

The Minister has expressed readiness to support in all possible directions, which exist on the Armenian-Swedish agenda, especially in the spheres of democracy, human rights and gender equality.

They have referred to the reforms of the judicial sphere, the readiness of the authorities to eradicate the corruption, and the imperative of creating equal conditions for business in the economy, which is necessary for increasing the volume of foreign investments.

By Minister Wallström’s request Ararat Mirzoyan presented the RA approaches in the negotiations of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.

On the same day the delegation headed by Ararat Mirzoyan met with the Minister for EU Affairs Hans Dahlgren.

The parties discussed a format of issues concerning the RA-EU cooperation, especially emphasizing the necessary assistance shown by Sweden in the implementation of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. Ararat Mirzoyan has informed that the Armenian side has presented to the European Union the Road Map of the Agreement application, and the approval is designed during the coming sitting of the RA-EU Partnership Council.

Minister Dahlgren highly assessed the democratic changes held in the RA and discussed the procedure of the reforms going on in the judicial system. Presenting the agenda of the reforms and the works to be done in the near future, Ararat Mirzoyan underlined that path of readiness of the Armenian side to pass with all international, including the European colleagues.

He also stressed the importance of the urgent launch of negotiations of the entry visa liberalisation with the EU, which would allow unprecedentedly expanding the contacts between our peoples in the cultural, scientific, educational and humanitarian spheres.