Presidents of European Parliament and Armenian National Assembly make joint statement

 Permanent promotion of Armenia-EU cooperation is mutually advantageous. This was mentioned during a working breakfast of the parliamentary delegation of Armenia, which is on a visit to Brussels, and President of EP Martin Schultz.

Issues of the multi-vector cooperation of Armenia and EU were discussed during the meeting. The parties touched upon the Karabakh conflict as well. In this context, Hovik Abrahamyan said that Armenia is committed to peace and stability in the region, while Baku makes constant bellicose statements and organizes provocations of the line of contact with Nagorno Karabakh.

As for Armenia-Turkey relations, President of the Armenian National Assembly H. Abrahamyan said that normalization of those relations is within both bilateral and regional interests. He said that Armenia is committed to establishment of relations with Turkey without preconditions, while Ankara links the normalization process with the Karabakh conflict's resolution. "However, the Karabakh problem and the Armenian-Turkish relations have nothing in common," the speaker
said.

Afterwards, the Presidents of the Armenian and EU Parliaments came out with a joint statement wherein they highly appreciate the cooperation of the two parties in 2012. The statement says that the processes related to the Armenia-EU Association Membership and the DCFTA will be completed by late 2013, which will boost economic development of Armenia. Hovik Abrahamyan assigned high priority to visa facilitation with the EU for the citizens of Armenia, which will
lead to visa free communication with the countries in the Schenghen area in future.

The two parties discussed also the upcoming 2013 presidential election in Armenia. Hovik Abrahamyan assured Martin Schultz that the Armenian authorities have enough political will to conduct elections meeting international standards.

For conclusion, Hovik Abrahamyan invited Martin Schultz to Armenia.