Armenia ends chairmanship in the International Organization of La  Francophonie 

ArmInfo. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Louise Mushikiwabo, Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie, the press service of  the Armenian PM informs.

 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in his  speech, "Dear Secretary General, I welcome you in the Republic of  Armenia. I remember the Francophonie Summit in Yerevan in 2018 with  great pleasure and joy, where you were elected Secretary General, and  Republic of Armenia assumed the presidency of the Organization. I  think that in that sense we had a very active and effective  cooperation in 2019. Unfortunately, the coronavirus also affected the  activities of our Organization and our presidency, and we had to  cancel a number of events. Nevertheless, we take our participation  and presidency in the OIF with great sense of responsibility , and I  hope that in the near future, together with our other partners, we  will be able to fill the gap caused by the pandemic.

During our meetings, I have said and I want to emphasize again, that  we fully support the course of the reforms you have outlined as  Secretary-General, and of course, we will continue to support your  reform course as much as we can after our presidency. I welcome you  once again and I am glad to see you".  OIF Secretary General Louise  Mushikiwabo said, "Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. I am very glad to  personally see you again. We had phone talk during the war and I felt  very sorrow. Both the Organization and I personally take Armenia very  warmly, and it was very difficult for us to follow that extremely  difficult situation for Armenia, so I was glad to be able to talk to  you then, and now I am glad for the opportunity to be personally  present here now.  Mr. Prime Minister, let me congratulate and thank  you for two reasons. First of all, of course I did in a written form,  but now I would like to personally congratulate you on your beautiful  victory. That victory was very important for two reasons, first of  all for you personally and for the Armenian people, who were able to  clearly express their will in the not-so-favorable conditions for the  elections. Therefore, this is a great victory for democracy and the  Armenian people. Secondly, for us, for the International Organization  of La Francophonie, which also has a political mission, in  particular, to support countries in the path of democracy. We were  glad to be invited to witness that process, we had the opportunity to  observe the elections as part of our Organization's mission. This  victory is very important, because it means certain tranquility  today, a political consensus, which is very important, because you  have much more difficult issues to manage for both the country and  the region.

The second reason to congratulate you, as you mentioned, was the  presidency of Armenia in the International Organization of La  Francophonie, which you carried out very well: both you and your  representative, Ambassador Ter-Stepanyan in the sanitary conditions,  which made the works quite difficult, and in the conditions of the  Organization's transformation. You were able to participate in the  decision making over a number of issues that were important for our  Organization after your visit to Paris. Mr. Ambassador is also a  member of the political committee, he participates in the analytical  group, the aim of which is to predict the future of the Organizatio.   So I can document once again that you have done that difficult job of  the presidency with honor".

The interlocutors exchanged views on international issues, regional  security and peace. Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the solution of the  humanitarian issues caused by the 44-day war, in particular, the  immediate release of Armenian prisoners of war, civilian hostages, as  well as the proper protection of the Armenian historical, cultural  and religious heritage and expressed gratitude to the OIF  Secretary-General for the support and solidarity with our country and  the Armenian people in autumn 2020.

Louise Mushikiwabo reaffirmed the readiness of the OIF to continue  the support aimed at the solution of the humanitarian crisis caused  by the 44-day war.  The Prime Minister highlighted the participation  of the OIF in the observation mission for the first time in the  parliamentary elections of 2021. The interlocutors referred to the  activities of the Organization during the coronavirus pandemic and  the emerging challenges. Issues related to the preparation for the  forthcoming IOF summit were touched upon. 

The parties reaffirmed their readiness to deepen cooperation and  discussed the activities in that direction. Both sides highlighted  the deepening of French language teaching in Armenian schools,  universities, among civil servants, the implementation of educational  initiatives among the youth, which will be a link between the youth  of the Francophone area.  After the meeting, the Prime Minister of  the Republic of Armenia and the Secretary General of the OIF issued a  joint statement.