President of the National Assembly of France Richard Ferrand today hosted the delegation led by Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan, who is on a working visit to Paris, as reported the National Assembly of Armenia.

After the exchange of greetings, the sides thoroughly discussed the provocative and aggressive actions of Azerbaijan that took place a few days ago on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as a consequence of which there were victims, captured Armenian servicemen and missing persons. Alen Simonyan noted that the attack is the continuation of the consistent policy of the Azerbaijani side to occupy the territories of the Republic of Armenia, which was launched on May 12 of this year through the infiltration of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces intoto Syunik and Gegharkunik Provinces. According to Simonyan, this was also an attack on democracy.

The events following the 44-day war and the challenges targeted at the security of Armenia and the region and the stability were in the counterparts’ focus. Simonyan expressed his gratitude to France for the great attention paid towards Armenian prisoners of war held as hostages, the return of civilians, the right of the Artsakh-Armenian refugees, the protection of historical-cultural heritage being under Azerbaijani control by the heads of different wings of power, as well as by public figures. He considered remarkable the resolution ‘on the protection of Armenian people and Christian communities in Europe and the East’ adopted by an overwhelming majority of votes of the French National Assembly on December 3, 2020. According to Simonyan, the resolutions adopted by the French Senate and the French National Assembly will be an important milestone for the fair settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group and for strengthening the active role of France in that process.

The Speaker of the National Assembly stated that France has been and remains the friend of Armenia.

At the end of the meeting, the colleagues underlined the importance of the joint efforts for continuation of cooperation between Armenia and France in different spheres.

The delegation led by the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia is in France at the invitation of the President of the French Senate Gérard Larcher. During the two-day working visit, the delegation will take part in the forum entitled ‘Armenia After One Year’ to be held under the high auspices of the President of the French Senate.