On July 17 Artak Zakaryan, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly received the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Armenia (RA) Tian Changchun.

To the Ambassador’s assessment, the Armenian-Chinese relations since the independence and on the eve of the 20^th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations have reached high level, and the active contacts of the heads of the two states and the distinct directions and spheres of cooperation indicated by them have contributed to it.

Thanking to the state institutions of China for the various kinds of support being shown to RA Artak Zakaryan emphasized the development of relations with China, underlining the big potential of cooperation in political, economic, scientific-educational, inter-regional and other spheres. According to the Committee Chairman, however, especially the contacts at inter-parliamentary level are not so active, the potential of cooperation is not completely used. The sides considered as a good format the inter-parliamentary cooperation for more strengthening the inner -state ties, expressing readiness of activating the relations between the parliaments. The activation of the activity of the Armenia-China Parliamentary Friendship Group was highlighted.

The interlocutors also touched upon the inter-party cooperation and its given opportunities. In the Ambassador’s word, the recent elections testify to the trust that the Republican Party of Armenia enjoys, and the distinct paths that the country has chosen for governing. Parliamentary elections in China will be held in march, meanwhile at the 18^th Congress of the Communist Party will be specified who will be the leadership of the state and the party.

In the meeting the sides talked about the mutual support in the issues of importance for the two countries and cooperation in international structures.

Referring to the settlement of the NK conflict the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China thanked Armenia for the position of solving the problem through peaceful negotiations and efforts of maintaining peace and stability in the region. In his word, it’s not possible to develop the economy, reach ultimate peace and implement new programmes without stability

In his turn Artak Zakaryan thanked the Ambassador for the balanced and constructive stance adopted by China, which is regularly expressed particularly in the UN.

The interlocutors also talked about the educational-cultural projects, as well as students’ exchange and language learning, and with readiness of supporting new projects.