The Republican Party of Armenia convened an executive body session on August 17. After the session, party spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov informed the journalists that the session was chaired by the Armenian President, both domestic and foreign political issues, as well as Armenian President’s visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran were discussed.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has a balanced approach to the NKR issue, President Rouhani said that the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be solely political, and that peace and stability in the region are important for his country”, said Eduard Sharmazanov.
He also mentioned that the political majority of the Republican Party of Armenia must start active work since September: “We are expecting a serious fall in the parliament, especially the issue of local self-government elections to be held on November 5 is going to be discussed. The RPA will announce its candidates in September”.
Speaking about the Armenian-Iranian energy cooperation, Sharmazanov said: “Mr. President has clearly given our view on energy and cooperation with the IRI, we are ready to deepen our relations objectively, we have spoken about the launch of the North-South and other issues. North-South is the safest way to Europe for Iran”.
Responding to a journalist’s question, the speaker said he had not heard whether the “Yelq” bloc is ready to present an initiative on Armenia’s withdrawal from the Eurasian Union: “If the Republic party and the Bright Armenia have expressed their view, then we have not heard a clear position from the Civil treaty. In any case, we believe that Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union is justified… We offer not to talk with emotions, but with concrete suggestions and facts… Would we sell Armenian tomatoes and cucumbers in Paris, or our cognac, which called brandy, in France, if we did not join the EAEU? Being a EAEU representative does not mean that we should not develop our relations with the EU”.
Speaking about the statement by US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Richard Hoagland, the RPA spokesman said, The Armenian side has always been for the withdrawal of snipers from the contact line. He also noted that the official representative of the RF Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova also said that the co-chairs plan to meet in the near future, but he does not expect a breakthrough from the meeting.
The press conference also touched upon the RF-US mutual sanctions and its reflection on Armenia: “We do not live in isolation, and Russia and the United States are the main players in the region, I do not think that Armenia can avoid negative effect of mutual sanctions, but we have to serve Armenia’s interests, especially Russia is our main ally, and the US is our very important partner”.
As for the recent forest fires, RPA press spokesman said, that the president is aware of the problem, and no country is secured from such problems.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
