“We have not signed these many Conventions with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the presence of any other country’s leader”, announced the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, during the press release invited after the meeting with President Serzh Sargsyan.
The Secretary-General witnessed that Armenia has a new Constitution already, elections have been held and all procedures are going in the correct way and the Council of Europe has a good cooperation with Armenia. Mr. Jagland also informed that they had an exchange of ideas around a variety of questions together with Serzh Sargsyan.
Let us note that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia has signed “Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters”, “Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking”, additional protocol of “Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism”, “Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions” and “Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-production” today.
The President of the Republic of Armenia announced that his visit to the PACE was symbolic: tomorrow, January 25 marks the 17th anniversary of Armenia’s membership to the Council of Europe. On this occasion, Serzh Sargsyan told: “In 2018 the Republic of Armenia is completely different from what it was in 2001. Our country has achieved remarkable results in strengthening democracy, human rights and the rule of law to which the valuable lasting cooperation with the Council of Europe has its contribution.”
Afterwards Serzh Sargsyan informed that they had a significant discussion with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, as usual: “We bilaterally recorded that especially throughout the past dozen of years comprehensive reforms have been carried out in the RA towards more efficient governing with the guarantee of fundamental freedoms and towards setting and providing dynamic politics. The reports of the statutory and monitoring bodies of the Council of Europe are the evidence of this. The first addressee of this cooperation is the citizen of the Republic of Armenia. This is our vision of the proper fulfillment of the obligations we have undertaken before the Council of Europe.”
During Serzh Sargsyan-Thorbjørn Jagland meeting Karabakh conflict settlement was addressed as well. On this occasion Serzh Sargsyan mentioned: “I revised my support of the overview voiced by the Secretary General for several times, implying that no grey spots should be in place in Europe relative to human rights defense. This means that the Council of Europe should view the rights of the citizens residing in conflict zones equally, pursuing neutrality principle in status issue.”
The President of the Republic of Armenia added: “As regards the conflict settlement, in that question the entities and formats having an internationally agreed mandate for the resolution of the given conflict are liable.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Strasbourg
