YEREVAN. – National Assembly (NA) Vice-Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov on Wednesday met with Tian Erlong, the newly appointed Ambassador of China to Armenia.

First, the NA deputy chair congratulated Tian Erlong on beginning his diplomatic mission in Armenia and expressed the hope that the ambassador’s activity will be favorable for further deepening and advancing the Armenian-Chinese traditional cooperation. Sharmazanov highlighted the rapprochement and development of interparliamentary ties, the activities of the parliamentary friendship groups. To his assessment, there is a great potential of cooperation in different domains, and this potential should be used effectively.

Eduard Sharmazanov, touching upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, underscored that the Armenian authorities adhere to the principle of solving problems exclusively through peaceful means, and he positively assessed the Chinese authorities’ balanced approach to this matter.

Ambassador Tian Erlong, for his part, emphasized that he is impressed by the high level of Armenian-Chinese cooperation, and expressed willingness to take steps to ensure a new level of bilateral cooperation and to further develop interstate and interparliamentary ties. He underscored that China sees the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict solely through peaceful means, and by way of the OSCE Minsk Group format.

During the meeting the interlocutors also discussed the prospects for cooperation in economic, educational, cultural, humanities, and several other domains. In addition, the parties highlighted the exchange of experience and mutual visits between the two friendship countries.