President receives Belgium’s parliamentary delegation

President Serzh Sargsyan received today the parliamentary delegation of the Kingdom of Belgium.

Welcoming the guests and their visit to Armenia, the president attached great importance to the role of parliamentary diplomacy in strengthening inter-state relations. Serzh Sargsyan expressed the hope that the busy agenda of the Belgian parliamentarians’ visit will further enhance Armenian-Belgian inter-parliamentary ties and will elevate them to a qualitatively new level. The president stressed that Armenia is willing to further reinforce its friendly ties with Belgium, which is driven by a number of important circumstances: 100 years ago Belgium gave shelter to the Armenian genocide survivors whose offspring today continue to live and create in that country. According to the president, being an EU founding member, Belgium can, with its developed economy, set a good example for Armenia, a country with almost the same territory, on its path of reform implementation. The president said that Armenia considers Belgium as an exemplary development model.

Serzh Sargsyan emphasized that the Belgian parliamentarians have visited Armenia during a period important to our country and people - in the year of the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The president greatly appreciated the adoption of the resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide by Belgium’s Senate in 1998, and also attached value to the adoption of the resolution recognizing the Genocide by Prime Minister Charles Michel in June and by the House of Representatives one month later, whereby Belgium made the recognition process complete.

Serzh Sargsyan highly appreciated the balanced position of the friendly country of Belgium on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which corresponds to the EU’s general approach. The president welcomed the parliamentarians’ desire to visit the Nagorno-Karabakh and get impartial information about the conflict on the spot, by seeing the country and getting in touch with Artsakh people.

Belgium’s parliamentarians stressed that there are a few important issues which also unite themselves - the representatives of different layers of Belgium’s parliament. Among those issues they mentioned the work aimed at the recognition of the Armenian Genocide implemented by them in 2015, as well as the common desire to visit the Nagorno-Karabakh. Among other things, the parliamentarians also enquired about the process of RA constitutional amendments. Armenia’s president responded to all the questions from the parliamentarians and presented our country’s approaches.