13:29,

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. On November 23, President of the Senate of the Republic of France Gérard Larcher hosted the delegation led by Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan, who arrived in Paris on a working visit.

Alen Simonyan expressed his gratitude to Gérard Larcher for the invitation to take part in the Forum entitled “Armenia After One Year”, the Parliament’s press service reports.

The President of the Senate of France thanked the Armenian Speaker of Parliament for accepting the invitation, noting that they thoroughly follow the situation in Armenia and they are well aware of the post-war developments.

The counterparts considered remarkable that the Forum would be held one year after almost unanimous adoption of the resolution on the Necessity of the Recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic on November 23, 2020 and after 20 years of the adoption of the law recognizing the Armenian Genocide by France.

Speaker Simonyan has affirmed that those historical events are exceptional manifestations of solidarity towards Armenia and the Armenian people, and unique examples of unanimity in the inner-political life of France. In this context the Armenian side highly appreciated the adoption of the resolutions on condemning the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression against Artsakh and the necessity of the recognition of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic by the two Chambers of Parliament of France, as well as the humanitarian assistance provided by the French state and different organizations.

The sides have touched upon the provocative and aggressive actions carried out by Azerbaijan on the border of Armenia, recording that Azerbaijan violates the November 9, 2020 trilateral statement.

Presenting details on the post-war situation at his colleague’s request, Alen Simonyan stressed the call of Armenia to all international colleagues – to distinctly and targeted respond to these actions seriously endangering the regional peace and security by the Azerbaijani side and undertake practical steps in preventing theme and withdrawal of the armed forces of Azerbaijan from the Republic of Armenia. The parties documented the importance of the peaceful settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict under the auspice of and within the framework of the mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group. During the talk the attention was drawn to the urgent settlement of the post-war humanitarian problems, including the necessity of the repatriation of all prisoners of war and civilian hostages.

The sides referred to the fire opened in the direction of the Armenian positions located in the section of the village of Norabak of Gegharkunik Marz from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border a few hours ago from the meeting, as a consequence of which serviceman Suren Safaryan died. The sides considered the aggressive actions of Azerbaijan an encroachment also against democracy.

The counterparts talked about the remarkable functions of the inter-parliamentary cooperation in the development of the inter-state relations, as well as the dynamics of the Armenian-French high-ranking political dialogue.

The meeting has been concluded by signing the Agreement of Cooperation between the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and the Senate of the Republic of France, which designs multi-polar cooperation for the benefit of friendship and solidarity existing between the two countries.