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On April 13 the RA NA President Galust Sahakyan received Anne Brasseur, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) being in Armenia on an official visit.

Welcoming Anne Brasseur in the parliament, the NA President highlighted Armenia-Council of Europe cooperation, as well as the CoE support to the process of democratic reforms in our country. The Speaker of the Parliament also touched upon the documents adopted by the Assembly.

Talking about the Armenian Genocide Centennial, the President of the National Assembly has documented that it is a crime directed not only to the Armenian people, but also to the entire mankind. He has expressed hope that ahead of the 100^th anniversary, the PACE will refer to this historical tragedy and will give an appropriate assessment.

Touching upon the Nagorno Karabakh problem, the NA President has noted that it is one of the important priorities of the RA foreign policy, and Armenia sees the solution of the conflict exclusively through peaceful means under the auspice of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. Galust Sahakyan has proposed to contact directly with Nagorno Karabakh, irrespective of their status, as the Council of Europe has the similar experience in other conflict zones. At the same time Galust Sahakyan offered Ms Brasseur to observe the parliamentary elections in Nagorno Karabakh on May 3 on the spot, noting that the elections in Artsakh have been organized and held at high level and in accordance with the international standards long ago.

The PACE President Anne Brasseur has highly assessed the activities of the RA NA Delegation to the Assembly and has greatly emphasized parliamentary diplomacy role on the international platforms.

Ms Brasseur has stated that the CoE should promote the launch of the dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan, so that the conflicting sides listen to each other.

Ann Brasseur has referred to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which Armenia has not signed yet. She has also applied to the NA President with the request of creating a Committee on execution of the European Court of Human Rights judgments in the parliament, which will supervise the execution process of the Court’s decisions.

Afterwards the President of the National Assembly Galust Sahakyan and the PACE President Anne Brasseur took part in the tree-planting ceremony in the parliament park.

The PACE President had also meetings with the factions of the RA National Assembly, the RA NA Delegation to the PACE, the Heads of the RA NA Standing Committees on Foreign Relations, on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs.