ARTUR BAGHDASARIAN: “WE’LL CONTINUE STRUGGLING FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF EUROPEAN VALUES IN ARMENIA”

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 05 2006

YEREVAN, MAY 5, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. “We observe the five
years of Armenia’s membership to the Council of Europe as years of
stable progress,” Armenian National Assembly Speaker Artur Baghdasarian
stated at the May 5 conference “Armenia and the Council of Europe:
Five Years of Membership.”

According to him, during this period of time, Armenia has actively
been engaged in implementation of the obligations undertaken in
front of the Council of Europe: “We’ll continue our activity and
will go on struggling for establishment of the European values in
Armenia.” According to Armen Rustamian, the Chairman of the Parliament
Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, a member of the Armenian
delegation to the CE Parliamentary Assembly, it is quiet obvious that
without the close cooperation with the Council of Europe, Armenia would
be few steps behind in its democratic development that it is today. He
mentioned that more and more people in Armenia realize necessity of
holding democratic reforms and see Armenia’s place in the European
peoples’ family. At the same time, Armen Rustamian pointed out not
high speeds of implementation of reforms, what, according to him,
will push development of democracy behind. “The main task is the way
to the European values and raising speeds of reforms during it,”
Armen Rustamian stated. According to him, within the framework of
its further membership to the Council of Europe, Armenia must pay its
attention to issues of raising efficiency in the system of management,
to the active anti-corruption struggle and etc.