The speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, on Tuesday received Gordan Grlic Radman, the visiting Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs.

The need for multi-sectoral cooperation aimed at bilateral relations was discussed at the meeting.

Simonyan, noting that there was only one visit to Armenia at the level of the speaker of the Croatian parliament, in 2011, proposed to intensify parliamentary relations between the two countries.

The role of friendship groups in active dialogue between the parliaments of friendly countries was reflected on.

The interlocutors talked about the post-war situation, the Lachin corridor crisis, Azerbaijan's military aggression against Armenia's sovereign territory, the threats to the 120,000 Armenians living in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), and Azerbaijan's continuous aggressive policy.

"Azerbaijan's policy of banning the entry of international—including humanitarian—organizations to Artsakh is unacceptable. In our deep conviction, it is necessary that the officials and organizations of the Council of Europe [(CoE)] have the opportunity to visit Nagorno-Karabakh in order to monitor the state of human rights," said Simonyan.

At the end of the meeting, a conversation was held about the possibilities of cooperation on international platforms.

Prospects of mutually beneficial cooperation in education, science, trade, and tourism were discussed as well.

"I believe that the launch of direct flights [between Armenia and Croatia] will contribute to the development of tourism in both directions," noted Alen Simonyan.