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On March 30 the PABSEC Cultural, Educational and Social Affairs Committee meeting was held in the National Assembly. NA deputy Vardan Khachatryan represents Armenia in the Committee. The head of the Armenian delegation in PABSEC Gagik Minasyan also attended the meeting.

The representative of the Greek delegation, Chairman of the PABSEC Cultural, Educational and Social Affairs Alexandros Dermetzopoulos opened the meeting with welcoming speech. He thanked the Armenian people and the authorities for warm reception and presented the issue under discussion: Observance of the Sanitation Standards of the World Health Organization in the BSEC Member States.

In his opening speech the head of the Armenian delegation in PABSEC Gagik Minasyan welcomed the participants of the PABSEC meeting and expressed conviction that the next meeting would deepen the cooperation and the friendship between BSEC countries. Gagik Minasyan voiced the message of RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan to the participants of the meeting. The message says that the National Assembly of Armenia highlights the strengthening of further cooperation within the framework of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), which is one of the important boosting bodies of cooperation in the region. The meetings and discussions within this format enable the MPs of our countries to more focus on the adoption of the united decisions for the solution of different regional problems, which is mainly conditioned by the willingness of seeking compromises characteristic to the MPs. It is noted that the Assembly member states have many values and goals: establishment of peace, stability and welfare in the Black Sea Region, establishment of good neighborly relations, etc. The head of the parliament has expressed his conviction that there is big potential for economic effective cooperation in the region. It is necessary to encourage the investments in the development of the sub-structures in the region, especially in the spheres of energy and transport. The cultural, educational, scientific programmes, the development of tourism can also play an important role. Such contacts promote to get more acquainted with each other and the establishment of dialogue between our countries. This is also an important precondition for the establishment of business relations. “It is possible to create through cooperation more favourable conditions in the region for solving the existing political problems. Wishing the participants of the meeting effective and successful work, the head of the parliament expresses hope that the adopted decisions will contribute to reaching our common goals in the region,” the message says.

The Committee member representing Armenia Vardan Khachatryan gave a speech on Observance of the Sanitation Standards of the World Health Organization in the BSEC Member States. He noted that taking into account the importance of the observance of the sanitation standards in the Black Sea Region, the thirty-fifth meeting, which took place in September 2010 in Bucarest, made a decision to make a matter of discussion the above-mentioned problem. Mr Khachatryan noted that the BSEC member states and governments can have successes in the sphere of sanitation standards, maintenance of human health through control and organization of relevant measures. In the observance of human health he highlighted the cleanness of the environment and the security of food. According to him, the improvement of the sanitation conditions paves a path to have secure and healthy environment for millions of people.

The participants of the meeting enjoyed the report. Mr Khachatryan will present the issue in the GeneraL Assembly.

Svilen Kraychev from Bulgaria, Panagiota Zouni from Greece, Alexander Bednov from Russia, Resat Dogru from Turkey, Vladimir Vyazivskyi from Ukraine and Giorgi Goguadze from Georgia presented the experience of their countries in the agenda issue and works being done. The also highlighted the creation of sustainable sanitation environment, the import of goods meeting the sanitation demands, the cleanness of the environment in the observance of human health, and the maintenance of food security standards.

At the meeting a decision was made that the thirty-seventh meeting will be held in September 2011 in Ganja, Azerbaijan. In that meeting as main agenda issue the theme The Education in BSEC Member States will be discussed. The representative of Greece Panagiota Zouni was designated as Rapporteur on the report. The Committee discussed the resolution The EU Strategy on the Black Sea Region, on which the delegations will submit their recommendations to PABSEC International Secretariat. The Secretariat will prepare a document based on those recommendations, which will be discussed at the Meeting to be held in Kiev in July 2011. Covering the agenda the Yerevan Meeting ended its work.