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At the press conference held on February 18 the Head of the RA NA Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, members of the delegation Hrant Bagratyan, Artsvik Minasyan and Vahe Enfiajyan touched upon the works of the next meetings of the three Standing Committees of the Euronest PA held in Brussels on February 11-13.

The Head of the delegation Artak Zakaryan has informed those present that in the meetings the draft reports of the Assembly, which should be voted during the plenary session of the Assembly after the May elections of the European Parliament (EP).

At the meeting of the Standing Committee on Political Affairs, Human Rights and Democracy of the Euronest PA the draft report on Engaging in a stronger partnership between the EU and Eastern European partner countries through the European Neighbourhood Instrument for 2014-2020 was discussed, and its co-reporters were from the EP Delegation Jaciek Protasiewicz and from the Georgian Delegation Viktor Dolidze.

The recommendations of the members of the Armenian delegation related to the results of the Vilnius Summit, the financing policy within the Eastern Partnership framework and the wordings on the Customs and Eurasian Unions. The Armenian MPs also touched upon the energy saving and financing problems and opportunities of the small aviation. At the meeting a number of other agenda issues were discussed.

At the meeting of the Standing Committee on Energy Security the draft report on challenges, potential and new engagement in cooperating on energy efficiency and renewable sources within the Eastern Partnership was discussed.

During the meeting discussions over the perspectives of the development of the restoring energy resources in the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries were held.

At the meeting of the Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society the draft report on Culture and intercultural dialogue in the context of the Eastern Partnership was discussed. The Co-Chair of the Committee moderating the meeting Artak Zakaryan in his speech has touched upon the Vilnius Summit, and has highlighted the fact that the EU-Armenia Vilnius joint statement reflects all the main items of the Association Agreement. Artak Zakaryan has also welcomed the pre-signed counterparts of the Association Agreements and has hoped that in the nearest future the situation will become stable in Ukraine and the Ukrainian counterparts will join the works of the Euronest in the future.

Then the delegations have touched upon the developments going on in their countries, as well as the priorities and programmes.

Touching upon the upcoming works of the Committee the delegates have proposed to study the problems of the higher education in the Committee, and discuss the possibility of creating a research centre.

The members of the Armenian delegation have presented their observations and proposals on the reports, which have been mainly accepted by the authors.

Artak Zakaryan has said that in the meetings the Azerbaijani delegation voiced anti-Armenian statements, to which the Armenian delegation have given substantial answers.

The members of the delegation also answered the journalists’ questions.