YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS. Ara Saghatelyan, secretary general of the Armenian Parliament, met with Philippe Schwab, secretary general of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, president of the Association of the Secretaries General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, who is in Armenia among the delegation members of the Swiss National Council, the Armenian Parliament told Armenpress.

The Armenian Parliament’s secretary general said the imperative of making reforms in the staff is conditioned with the necessity to develop expert and analytical capacities and parliamentary control mechanisms over which respective actions are already being taken. Ara Saghatelyan presented to the Swiss counterpart the ongoing works within the frames of the Open Parliament initiative.

Philippe Schwab highlighted the leading experience of Switzerland in parliamentary control and expressed readiness to exchange experience.

The officials discussed the long-term cooperation prospects between the staffs of the two parliaments.

Ara Saghatelyan informed that the Armenian Parliament’s staff has submitted an application for membership to the Association of the Secretaries General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union the discussion of which is scheduled on the March 26 session of the Association’s executive committee in Geneva.

Philippe Schwab welcomed this initiative and said he will carefully examine Armenia’s membership application.

At the end of the meeting the officials expressed readiness to continue the working contacts at different levels and to develop the cooperation.