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On June 11, in Limasol within the framework of the European Conference of Speakers of the Parliaments RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan had bilateral meetings with the PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu and with the Speakers of the Parliaments of a number of countries.

RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan had a meeting with the PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu. The procedure of the fulfilment of the PACE formulas by Armenia, as well as the developments concerning the PACE Ad-Hoc Committee on NK were debated during the meeting. An agreement was reached that a very careful policy should be shown at the beginning of the works of the Committee. Steps should be taken that the negotiation process would not be interrupted within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. It was mentioned that the bellicose announcements made by Azerbaijan did not promote the formation of the atmosphere of trust and cooperation.

At the beginning of the meeting with the Speaker of the Riksdagen of the Swedish Kingdom Per Westerberg RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan highly assessed the adoption of the formula of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and its condemnation. RA NA Speaker underlined that the Genocide had not only been directed to Armenians, but it had been a crime against the whole humankind and he considered the condemnation of that reality by Sweden to be important in the sphere of the Human Rights Protection. He also spoke about the possibilities of the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations.

During the meeting the sides also touched upon issues concerning the development and strengthening of the Armenian-Swedish Inter-parliamentary relations. Especialy, the activation of the works of the friendship groups and the mutual visits were highlighted. The RA NA Speaker invited the Speaker of the Parliament of Sweden to pay an official visit to Armenia and have a speech from the RA NA tribune till the parliamentary elections being held in Sweden in September 2010 .

RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan met the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta Mr. Michael Frendo on the latter’s initiative.

At the beginning of the meeting the RA NA Speaker congratulated Michael Frendo on being elected as Speaker of the Parliament of Malta and invited him to pay an official visit to Armenia. It was mentioned that though Armenia and Malta geographically were far from each other, both countries had commonness in their habits and traditions. The activation of the mutual cooperation was considered to be significant not only at the level of p arliament s but also in economy, science, education and other spheres. The NA Speaker noted that during the visits the business forums would be organized in order to underline the possible directions of the cooperation between the business circles of Armenia and Malta. The sides also highlighted the necessity of the cooperation in the international structures.

On the same day RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan met the Speaker of the Parliament of Croatia Mr. Luka Bebić on the latter's initiative.

In the centre of the meeting there were the issues concerning the prospect of the development of the Armenian-Croatian relations.

The Speaker of the Parliament of Croatia presented the results of the works and negotiations being implemented for Croatia to be a member of the European Union.

It was also noted that as speakers of parliaments they should do their best for the activation of the relations. The sides touched upon the official visit of RA President Serzh Sargsyan to Croatia, which was very effective.

NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan met the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament Mrs. Jozefina Topal l i.

During the meeting the sides debated issues concerning the necessity of the establishment and development of the inter-parliamentary relations between Armenia and Albania. The cooperation in the European structures was highlighted.

During the meeting with the President of the House of Representatives of Cyprus Mr. Marios Garoy i an the high level of the Armenian-Cypress political relations was highly assessed. RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan emphasized Mr. Garoy i an’s official visit to Armenia in November 2008, which played a big role in the strengthening of the Armenian-Cypriot inter-parliamentary relations. It was mentioned that the friendship established between Armenia and Cyprus was important for the further development and deepening of the mutual relations.

On June 13 the second meeting between RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan and the President of the House of Representatives of Cyprus Mr. Marios Garoy i an was held, during which the sides touched upon issues concerning the development of the cooperation between the delegations of two countries in the international structures and especially in PACE.

On June 12 RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan met the EU Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammerberg. Hovik Abrahamyan emphasized the monitoring being implemented by the Commissioner’s Office, which was a serious impetus for making reforms in the protection of human rights in Armenia, as well as in other PACE member-countries. Mr. Hammerberg said that in October he would arrive in Yerevan in order to participate in the CoE forum For Future of Democracy. During the meeting the sides debated issues concerning the ongoing legislative reforms in Armenia and regional problems.

RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan also had meetings with the President of the House of Representatives of M o rocco Abdel w ahed Radi, the Chai rman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Lytvyn, the Speaker of the Senate of the Republic of Poland Bogdan Borusewicz, the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy Gianfranco Fini.