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On July 19 RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan in Geneva took part in the Third World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments, and the open solemn ceremony was held in the UN National Palace. The Speakers of Parliament and the heads of the international structures of about 150 countries take part in the conference. During the conference the Speakers of 102 Parliaments delivered speeches. On July 21 the speech of RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan is envisaged. During the conference the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Theo-Ben Gurirab and the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon gave opening speeches. The theme of the discussions was “Parliaments in a World of Crisis: Securing Global Democratic Accountability For The Common Good.”

After the session RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan had bilateral meetings with the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Cyprus Marios Garoyan, the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Oktay Asadov, the Speaker of the Majlis of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Larijani, the Chairman of the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, the Speaker of the National Council of Monaco Jean-Francois Robiyon.

During the meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Cyprus Marios Garoyan RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan noted the traditional friendly relations, which were established between Armenia and Cyprus serve as an important pledge for the further development and more deepening of relations. He welcomed the active inter-parliamentary cooperation, noting that the Armenia-Cyprus and Cyprus-Armenia inter-parliamentary committees functioning in the parliaments of the two countries can have important contribution in the political, economic, cultural, educational and scientific spheres between Armenia and Cyprus in expanding cooperation and strengthening the inter-parliamentary relations. Mr. Abrahamyan proposed to organize business forums in order to more develop the economic relations. The Speaker of the House of Representatives of Cyprus Marios Garoyan also emphasized the deepening of inter-parliamentary relations and reaffirmed his invitation to Hovik Abrahamyan of paying an official visit to Cyprus.

In the course of the meeting the sides discussed the cooperation in the international structures, the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and other issues of bilateral interest, too. Mr. Garoyan underlined that Cyprus was next to Armenia, and in the international organizations Armenia could always expect the support of Cyprus.

The next meeting of RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan was with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Oktay Asadov. During the meeting the sides discussed issues regarding the settlement of Artsakh problem and possible cooperation between the two parliaments.

During the meeting with the Speaker of the Majlis of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Larijani the Head of the Armenian Parliament documented that the Armenian-Iranian relations were at the high level and continued to develop in the atmosphere of mutual trust, which also promoted the cooperation of the legislative bodies of the Republic of Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In this context the Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed during the visit of NA Speaker to Iran in September 2009. Hovik Abrahamyan highly assessed the activities of the parliamentary friendship groups in the two parliaments, and their mutual visits gave liveliness and new impetus to the inter-parliamentary relations. In the NA Speaker’s word, the cooperation has also considerable potential in the economic sphere. Hovik Abrahamyan invited Ali Larijani to Armenia to more deepen and develop the inter-parliamentary relations between the two countries, and invitation was gladly accepted.

The parties highlighted the cooperation in the international structures and noted that during the regional conflicts and crises the authorities of Armenia and Iran were distinguished by their balanced and comprehensive approaches. During the meeting they touched upon the Armenian-Turkish and NK problem. The Speakers of the two parliaments stressed that the conflicts should be solved through peaceful negotiations for regional security and stability.

During the meeting with the Chairman of the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair the NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan noted that Armenia paid great attention to the further development of the relations with the Arabic countries of the Persian Gulf, attentively followed the political processes of the region and economic achievements. In this aspect he highly assessed the balanced foreign policy of the United Arab Emirates at regional and international levels. He documented with satisfaction that the relations between Armenia and the United Arab Emirates had stable progress and highlighted the achievements of trade-economic cooperation. Hovik Abrahamyan noted that the bilateral inter-parliamentary cooperation yielded the level of trade-economic relations and proposed to activate the mutual visits of the inter-parliamentary delegations.

The Chairman of the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates also considered necessary the activation of the inter-parliamentary relations, noting that his country gave importance to the cooperation with Armenia in different directions. Mr. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair highly assessed Armenia’s efforts in order to provide peace and stability in the region and regulate relations with the neighbours.

During the meeting other issues of bilateral interest were discussed too.

On the same day the NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan met with the Speaker of the National Council of Monaco Jean-Francois Robiyon. Both sides highlighted the development of the inter-parliamentary relations, which would promote the bilateral and multilateral partnership, mutual visits. The NA Speaker also considered necessary the cooperation in the international structures. The Speaker of the Monaco Parliament also highlighted the cooperation in the international organizations and expressed willingness for cooperation. Hovik Abrahamyan in detail presented his counterpart of Monaco the process of regulation of Artsakh problem and stressed that Armenia saw the settlement of the problem only within the OSCE Minsk Group, and other format was not acceptable for our country.

During the meeting the sides discussed other issues regarding the cooperation, too.