YEREVAN. - Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly (NA) Ara Babloyan on Friday received French Ambassador to Armenia Jean-Francois Charpentier.

Welcoming the Ambassador in the NA, Babloyan highlighted the importance of the further deepening of the political, economic and cultural relations with France, the press-service of the Armenian NA informed Armenian News – NEWS.am. Underscoring the role of the parliamentary diplomacy in the development of bilateral relations, the Speaker attached importance to the formation and effective work of parliamentary friendship groups in the newly-elected National Assembly. In this context, touching upon the existing relations between Armenia and neighboring countries, Mr Babloyan noted that the parliamentary diplomacy supposes sincerity.

He also attached importance to the steps taken by Armenia for ensuring democracy, freedom of speech and protection of human rights.

Referring to the Nagonor-Karabakh issue, Ara Babloyan expressed gratitude to France for its position and stated that Armenia has a distinct position: the issue should be resolved through peaceful negotiations. In his words, today Armenia is an exemplary country for many in terms of providing security guarantees.

Jean-Francois Charpentier, for his part, began his talk with the NA Speaker in Armenian and thanked him for the reception. The Ambassador noted that during his longtime activity he has not yet come across more active, energetic and sincere Friendship Groups like those created between Armenia and France. Mr Charpentier expressed readiness to further develop and deepen the relations between the parliaments of the two countries and facilitate the Armenian parliamentarians’ contacts on international platforms. He also noted that Armenia has a number of trumps in its arsenal for the successful development of the country.

Furthermore, Jean-Francois Charpentier underscored the importance of modernizing French-Armenian relations, activating the trade-economic contacts and giving a new impetus to Francophonie in Armenia.

At the end of the meeting, the interlocutors talked about the creation and development of French educational institutions, the deepening of political dialogue and a number of issues concerning the boosting of cooperation between the Francophone countries.