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Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset said he had “very positive” impressions from his recent visit to Armenia.
Armenian delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Hripsime Gevorgyan asked Berset during a PACE session to share his assessment of the democratic developments in Armenia, as well as the overall level of co-operation between Armenia and the Council of Europe.
“The South Caucasus is a region fully integrated in the European family. It is not only the case geographically, it is also the case for a lot of other reasons historically and also for the values,” Berset said.
“My impression is that for years we've been feeling a very strong European aspiration coming from Armenia. This is a very important element to underline. And what is our role in this context? The role of the Council of Europe is to work with the countries willing to do this, to make some developments. That's why we have a very important office of the Council of Europe in Yerevan. I visited the office when I went there. I think we have more or less 50 persons, I mean, employees of the Council of Europe, working there and doing a very strong job to make it possible to develop reforms, you know, to develop projects and to make it possible to have this stronger convergence of values and the implementation of these values. That's really important. My impression is very positive. I'm not naive. I know that in all countries, in all member states, you will always find problems to solve, well, issues to raise, that's normal. But the general movement is important. And my impression is that this general movement is really good, going in the right direction. And it will be important, because next year you will have a very important election. And I know that it is like always in elections, quite lively at the moment in the situation. But maybe this is my positive assessment about the evolution of Armenia,” the CoE Secretary General said, according to a transcript of his remarks published on the PACE website.