YEREVAN.-  Members of the Armenia-EU and Euronest committees of parliamentary on Thursday met with the members of the EU-Armenia Friendship Group of the European Parliament.

Head of the standing committee on foreign relations Artak Zakaryan deemed important the first visit of the Friendship Group to the Armenian Parliament and expressed hope the meetings will be more frequent.

The sides highlighted deepening of Armenia-EU relations, integration process and especially stressed the importance of signing of the Association Agreement as well as the establishment of free trade area, parliament’s press service reported.

The sides considered important peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, continuation of the negotiations, noting that solution of the issue through military means is unacceptable.  

The members of European Parliament emphasized deepening of democratic reforms in Nagorno-Karabakh, which would promote peaceful settlement of the problem. They underscored importance of democracy strengthening in the South Caucasus

Members of the group deemed important participation of the representatives of Karabakh NGOs and civil society in the programs being implemented within the framework of Euronest.

Democratic reforms and deepening of democracy in Armenia was discussed. European MPs underscored importance of holding free and fair elections, underlining that there is still much work to be done. They expressed readiness to support implementation of the reforms.