RA NA PRESIDENT HOVIK ABRAHAMYAN RECEIVES THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC JAN FISCHER

parliament.am
May 18 2010
Armenia

On May 17 the President of RA National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan
received the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Jan Fischer. The
NA Vice President Arevik Petrosyan, the Chief of NA Staff Gegham
Gharibjanyan, the Chairperson of NA Standing Committee on European
Integration Naira Zohrabyan, the Chairman of the NA Standing Committee
on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gagik Minasyan and the
ambassadors of the two countries attended the meeting.

Greeting the Czech Prime Minister the RA National Assembly President
expressed hope that his first official visit to Armenia would
promote the development of bilateral relations. Hovik Abrahamyan
noted that the Armenian part emphasized the development of relations
both in bilateral and multilateral formats with the Czech Republic,
as well as the cooperation in European structures. RA National
Assembly President noted that the Armenian authorities paid special
attention to the EU Eastern Partnership programme and took active
part in its implementation. He also highlighted the development of
economic relations between two countries.

The Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer noted that Armenia and the
Czech Republic should do utmost for using the potential of the
possibilities. He in particular as a sphere of cooperation noted
culture, education and tourism. The Czech Prime Minister stated that
Armenia was one of the key participants of the EU Eastern Partnership
Programme.

RA National Assembly President considered important the development
of the inter-parliamentary cooperation: during the past years
inter-parliamentary active contacts had been between the parliaments
of the two countries. Hovik Abrahamyan thanked the Czech part for
the unbiased position in the NK issue, noting that the Armenian
authorities were for the peaceful solution of the issue within the
OSCE Minsk Group framework. He reiterated that Nagorno Karabakh could
not be part of Azerbaijan and the issues of the NK status and the
security of the NK people were important for Armenia.

The Czech Prime Minister also noted that the problem of Nagorno
Karabakh should be settled within the OSCE Minsk Group framework
and said that the Czech Republic had adopted a balanced position in
NK issue.

The Chairperson of NA Standing Committee on European Integration
Naira Zohrabyan thanked the Czech Prime Minister for the efforts
taken in activating the Armenian-Czech relations, in particular, for
restoring the students’ fellowship places and for giving opportunity
the Armenian students to study in the higher educational institutions
in the Czech Republic. The issue of the students’ fellowship by the
assignment of the President of RA National Assembly was raised by
the Committee Chairperson during the meeting, which was held with
the parliamentary delegation of the Czech Republic in March.

RA NA President also touched upon Armenia’s economy, noting that this
year there were possibilities to improve the indices. The Chairman of
the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs
Gagik Minasyan noted that the economic data of Armenia would be better
if the country would not be under blockade. Documenting that Europe
declared the Eastern Partnership programme he considered unacceptable
that Turkey, striving for European family, had blockaded the member
state of that programme.

In the course of the meeting the sides discussed other issues of
bilateral interest.