President Sargsyan receives PACE Monitoring Committee Co-Rapporteurs for Armenia

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan receives on November 7 PACE Monitoring Committee Co-RapporteursforArmenia Giuseppe Galati and Alan Meale.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Armenian President’s Office, greeting the guests, the President of the Republic highlighted the monitoring process of the PACE in terms of strengthening democracy in Armenia and stressed that cooperation with the CoE as a result of which significant progress has been recorded in the recent years in the spheres of human rights, democracy and rule of law stems from the interests of Armenia. The President underlines that Armenia has also contributed to the development of that key European institution by always remaining devoted to its commitments assumed as a CoE member state. According to President Sargsyan’s assessment, the meetings with the PACE Co-Rapporteursare always held in an open and constructive atmosphere that helps to carry out the works in the correct direction and record positive results. The President noted that the visit of the Co-Rapporteurshas coincided with an important stage of structural reforms in Armenia, which is unprecedented both in terms of raising public trust towards electoral processes and the post-electoral consensus – something that deserved positive feedbacks from international observer missions, including the PACE delegation.

Serzh Sargsyan once again stressed that the Council of Europe is an important partner for Armenia in terms of reform implementation, with which Armenia is interested to continue active cooperation. Considering that this is the last visit of Alan Meale to Armenia as a co-rapporteur, Serzh Sargsyan highly appreciated his activities, which was constructive and directed at effective solutions of existing problems.

The Co-Rapporteursrecorded with satisfaction the changes they witnessed during their visit. They saluted Armenia’s policy of accepting Syrian-Armenian refugees in the historical motherland of their ancestors and for rendering them significant support, noting that it can be a good example for other countries and peoples. The Co-Rapporteurscongratulated the President of Armenia for the visible progress in the country and noted that the CoE praises the transfer from semi-presidential governance system of Armenia to a more democratic one – parliamentary system, as well as the consistency displayed by the country for the implementation of the reforms stemming from the constitutional changes. Co-Rapporteurs Giuseppe Galati and Alan Meale hoped that Armenia will continue making all possible efforts to strengthen democracy and the place of Armenia in the global arena.

During the meeting a reference was made to the negotiation process of Nagorno Karabakh conflict mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs.