Cooperation between Armenia and Russia strengthens security in South  Caucasus.

ArmInfo. The 36th Meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Commission on Cooperation between the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation was held this time in Tsaghkadzor.

In his welcoming remarks T he RA NA Vice President, the Co-Chair of  the Inter-Parliamentary Commission on Armenian-Russian Cooperation  Hakob Arshakyan underscored that the Armenian-Russian ally  cooperation is based on the two peoples' historically established  friendly relations.

"Our countries are consistently developing the political dialogue and  are cooperating in different spheres.  The constructive parliamentary  dialogue has a significant role in strengthening the bilateral  relations between two countries in bilateral format, as well as on  the international parliamentary platforms," the NA Vice President  said.

The Parliament Deputy Speaker touched upon the regional security and  the existing threats and the illegal blocking of the Lachin Corridor.  Hakob Arshakyan reminded that the Lachin Corridor is the only road of  life for the population of Nagorno Karabakh, and in the created  situation about 120.000 Armenians residing there have been deprived  of first aid goods and services, including the medicine and medical  aid of vital importance.

"Such actions of official Baku are nothing but manifestation of  ethnic cleansing policy of the indigenous residents of Nagorno  Karabakh. The created situation is the gross violation of paragraph 6  of trilateral statement of November 9, 2020. The free movement along  the corridor will be restored without delay.  Today, it is more than  urgent the need of increasing the pressure on Azerbaijan by the  international community," the Deputy Speaker of Parliament  underlined. In this context he highlighted the role of the Russian  peacekeeping mission in preserving peace and stability, as well as  overcoming the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh.

Hakob Arshakyan reminded those present that the UN International  Court Justice (ICJ) obliged Azerbaijan to undertake all necessary  measures for ensuring the unimpeded movement through Lachin Corridor.  "The illegal actions of Azerbaijan promote the growth of tension and  impede the establishment of peace, security and stability in the  region. We stress the necessity of operating or resuming the  international mechanisms, including the monitoring mechanisms to  ensure the rights and security of Nagorno Karabakh Armenians," he  stated.

Regarding the agenda items, the NA Vice President assured that the  discussions and proposals will be an effective impetus for the  solving the universal problems, and the joint work will contribute to  uniting the efforts in solving numerous problems of bilateral  interest.

T he Deputy Speaker of the RF FA Federation Council, the Co-Chair of  the Inter-Parliamentary Commission Yury Vorobyov emphasized that  Armenia is the traditional strategic partner of Russia, and in the  period of global changes pf international relations the reliable  collaboration between the parliamentarians is more demanded.  According to him, the cooperation between Armenia and Russia assists  the strengthening of stability and security in South Caucasus. He  also highlighted the Russian peacekeeping mission ensuring peace in  the region in unblocking the Lachin Corridor.

In their welcoming remarks the Ambassador Extraordinary and  Plenipotentiary of Armenia to Russia

Vagharshak Harutyunyan and the Ambassador Extraordinary and  Plenipotentiary of Russia to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin also referred to  the development of bilateral relations, the inter-parliamentary  cooperation, the strategic partnership, the priorities and the steps  being taken for the complex solution of the problems.

Within the agenda items the members of the Inter-Parliamentary  Commission and the representatives of the executive authorities of  two countries related to the problems and achievements of  humanitarian and economic cooperation, as well as the perspectives of  Russian-Armenian cooperation in the context of supporting the events  aimed at the spreading Russian language in Armenia, Armenian language  in Russia.

The Deputy Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs,  the member of the Inter- Parliamentary Commission Babken Tunyan  introduced the steps directed to boosting the economic cooperation,  the opportunities of increasing the goods turnover volumes and the  problems of the financial market. The Head of the NA Armenia Faction,  the member of the Inter-Parliamentary Commission Seyran Ohanyan spoke  about the humanitarian crisis created in Artsakh as a consequence of  blocking the Lachin Corridor, underlined the role of the Russian  peacekeeping mission in preserving peace in the region. In the  security tense situation, a proposal was sounded to combine the  forces of the sides in military-technical cooperation.

The steps aimed at spreading Russian language in Armenia, the  educational events, the programmes being implemented in the  scientific-educational sphere, the perspectives of expanding the  inter-regional cooperation were presented. The member of the  Inter-Parliamentary Commission Aleksey Sandikov noticed that the  Russian in Armenia is the second one after the Mother tongue. He  emphasized the decision of the Russian side to send 60.000 textbooks  to Armenia, which can be a special step directed to promotion of the  Russian language.

Aleksey Sandikov underscored that the demand of the textbooks of  schools with a Russian stream in Armenia will be met with books. The  problem was raised in October of the previous year during the visit  of the NA President Alen Simonyan meeting with the Speaker of the  Federation Council of the RF Federal Assembly Valentina Matvienko.

The rapporteurs expressed conviction that the work of the  Inter-Parliamentary Commission will give new impetus to bilateral  relations.

At the end of the meeting a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed  between the Tavush Marz of Armenia and Krasnoyarsk Oblast of Russia.

A decision was made to hold the 37th meeting of the  Inter-Parliamentary Commission in Irkutsk, the Russian Federation.

After the meeting Hakob Arshakyan and Yury Vorobyov summed up the  work of the Commission meeting.