Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s program of visit to Strasbourg, France, concluded Wednesday with a meeting with Guido Raimondi, President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The President noted that the European Court of Human Rights, which next year will be marking its 60th anniversary, is a pillar of the Council of Europe Convention System. Stressing that Armenia attaches great importance to cooperation with the ECHR, the President noted that, in his conviction, all member states should do their utmost to maintain the authority of the court, as it stems from the best interest of member states and their citizens.

Also, Sargsyan reaffirmed Armenia’s commitment to continued effective cooperation, which, in his view, is very important from the perspective of reforming the judicial system in Armenia, improving the quality of justice, upgrading the law enforcement practice to meet European standards in protecting fundamental human rights, in general.

Guido Raimondi, for his part, thanked the Armenian President for visiting the ECHR and highlighted the importance of such talks and contacts. The ECHR President presented his organization’s ongoing dialogue with the national courts of member states, and the efforts aimed at deepening cooperation. He expressed a conviction that the assistance to increase efficiency in the proceedings of national courts will help significantly reduce the number of petitions to the ECHR.

Raimondi was pleased to note that Armenia’s Constitutional and Cassation Courts had joined the common network of European Supreme Courts which, as an important platform for exchanging information, currently includes 64 higher courts from 34 member States.