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On September 1, Shirak Torosyan, Head of the RA NA Armenia – Belgium friendship group, group members Karine Atshemyan, Elinar Vardanyan and Armen Rustamyan met with the members of the Belgium-Armenia parliamentary friendship group delegation on an official visit to Armenia .

Welcoming the guests’ visit to the Armenian Parliament, Shirak Torosyan noted that the ties with Belgium are actively developing: two Belgian parliamentary delegations have visited Armenia and Artsakh this year. The Group Head highlighted such visits and emphasized that parliamentary contacts can promote the development of the bilateral and multilateral relations between the two countries. Touching upon the RA foreign policy priorities, Shirak Torosyan thanked the Parliament of the Kingdom of Belgium for adopting the resolution on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, noting that not recognizing the first genocide of the 20^th century in time will result in perpetration of genocides in future. Shirak Torosyan extended words of appreciation to the Kingdom of Belgium for the balanced position on NK conflict settlement and emphasized that the exercise of Artsakh people’s right to self-determination has no alternative. According to him, the military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan on NK in April witnesses about that. Mrs Torosyan also informed that Azerbaijan continues to come up with bellicose rhetoric which impedes the commencement of the negotiation processes within the OSCE Minsk Group.            

At the meeting they touched upon the constitutional reform in Armenia , adoption of Electoral Code, issues of protection of human rights in our country and etc. 

Els Van Hoof, MP of the Chamber of Representatives of the Kingdom of Belgium , Head of the Belgium-Armenia parliamentary friendship group, expressed gratitude for the warm reception and highlighted mutual parliamentary visits and the opportunity to visit Armenia and Artsakh. Mrs Hoof emphasized the adoption of the resolution on recognizing the Armenian Genocide, spoke about the visits of Belgian delegations to Armenia and Artsakh after the 4-day war noting that it gave an opportunity to get acquitted with the situation and make discussions on the spot. The Belgian parliamentarian highlighted the peaceful and political settlement of the conflict, installation of investigation mechanisms on contact line. In response, Shirak Torosyan said that it hadn’t been installed because of Azerbaijan ’s resistance.       

Members of the Armenia-Belgium friendship group Karine Atshemyan, Elinar Vardanyan and Armen Rustamyan referred to the issue under discussion, presenting their views.

Karine Atshemyan, welcoming the Belgian MPs’ visit to Armenia , highlighted the strengthening of Armenia ’s ties with the EU, as well as with Belgium stating that parliamentary interaction has a significant role in that regard. Mrs Atshemyan emphasized the unbiased and objective workstyle of the Belgian partners on international platforms.  

Elinar Vardanyan highlighted the parliamentary diplomacy and in that context considered necessary the mutual visits, touched upon the inner-political situation in Armenia and the adoption of the RA Electoral Code, opining that it hadn’t been adopted in the conditions of consolidation.

Armen Rustamyan considered the Belgian parliamentarians’ visit to Armenia and Artsakh to be a good opportunity to see Artsakh’s achievements of 25 years of Independence and its people’s struggle. Mr Rustamyan considered Azerbaijan ’s ambitions to be useless for returning Nagorno Karabakh, as according to him, this will mean renaissance of the Soviet Union .  

For your information, the Belgian parliamentarians’ visit to the NKR is scheduled for today.