RA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SPEAKER HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN RECEIVES THE MEMBERS OF THE POLISH-ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY FRIENDSHIP GROUP OF THE POLISH PARLIAMENT
National Assembly
parliament.am
May 13 2010
Armenia
On May 12 the Speaker of the RA National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan
received the members of the Polish-Armenian Parliamentary Friendship
Group of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland led by the Senator
Lukasz Abgarowicz.
Hovik Abrahamyan expressed his condolences on the occasion of the
death of the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski and the Polish
high-ranking officials and parliamentarians in plane crash and in
the name of the Armenian people and RA National Assembly conveyed
the fraternal support to the friendly Polish people.
Lukasz Abgarowicz thanked for the attitude that the Armenian people
showed during the days of tragedy, noting that the Speaker of
RA National Assembly was one of the unique high-ranking political
figures, who despite the hard climatic conditions could take part in
the mourning ceremonies.
Positively assessing the high level of the existing political dialogue
between Armenia and Poland, as well as all the existing preconditions
for the further development and deepening of bilateral relations,
both in bilateral and multilateral formats, the RA National Assembly
Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan noted that as Speaker of the Parliament he
would do everything in order to more develop the relations. In his
words, in bilateral political, economic and cultural development the
expanding of the inter-parliamentary ties also has its unique place
in the rapprochement of relations between the two nations. In this
respect, Hovik Abrahamyan highly assessed the visit of the delegation
of the Polish-Armenian Parliamentary Friendship Group to Yerevan. He
expressed conviction that the sides would retain and deepen the rates
of the inter-parliamentary contacts.
The Head of the Polish-Armenian Parliamentary Friendship Group of
the Polish Parliament, Senator of Poland Lukasz Abgarowicz said that
they would invite the members of the Armenia-Poland Parliamentary
Friendship Group of the Armenian Parliament to visit Poland. He
expressed his wish to more deepen not only Poland-Armenia, but
also European Union-Armenia relations. In his turn Hovik Abrahamyan
considered important the necessity of rapprochement and efficiency
of cooperation between the permanent representations and official
delegations of Armenia and Poland in European structures, the UN
system and other international instances.
The interlocutors also touched upon the economic relations. The RA
National Assembly Speaker expressed hope that after the presidential
elections in Poland it would be possible to hold an Armenian-Polish
Inter-Governmental Commission sitting and a business forum, around
which an agreement had been reached with the Prime Minister of Poland
Donald Tusk during the latter’s visit to Armenia. Hovik Abrahamyan
noted that as parliamentarians they would seek to make closer the
relations of the governments. Lukasz Abgarowicz said that one of
the goals of their visit was also to study the possibilities and
perspectives of the development of the relations. The issue of opening
the Warsaw-Yerevan direct flight was highlighted.
The sides also touched upon the Armenian-Turkish relations and the
NK problem. Presenting the processes of signing the Armenian-Turkish
protocols and the consequences following it the RA National Assembly
Speaker said that from the beginning bringing various pretexts and
reasons, connecting the protocols with the NK conflict, delaying
their ratification, Turkey was impeding the process of the relations’
normalization. The proposal of such preconditions is unacceptable
for Armenia. And the President of our country signed a decree on
suspension of the ratification procedure of the protocols. Armenia
by now is not going out of this process and expects that Turkey will
show a will of constructive approach.
Regarding the Nagorno Karabakh issue Hovik Abrahamyan said that the
Nagorno Karabakh could not be part of Azerbiajan, the security of
the Nagorno Karabakh people would be guaranteed. The NK issue must
be solved within the OSCE Minsk Group framework, and Armenia does
not observe mediation of any country.
According to Lukasz Abgarowicz, Poland believes that the Nagorno
Karabakh issue and the establishment of the Armenian-Turkish relations
are separate problems, and they must not connect with each other. He
noted that eventually Turkey should recognize the fact of the Armenian
Genocide, highly assessing the steps taken by the President of Armenia
towards the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations.