President Serzh Sargsyan’s working program starts in Strasbourg

President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in Strasbourg later yesterday to attend the January session of PACE. RA President’s program started with a meeting with Michele Nicoletti, the newly elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Prior to the meeting, President Serzh Sargsyan signed in the Golden Book of PACE and made a note which reads: “I have a feeling of great honor and responsibility every time I visit the Council of Europe - this unique forge for stating and protecting human rights - a structure which promotes values that are meant to ensure free, dignified, and prosperous life for people. Paid on the eve of the 17th anniversary of Armenia’s accession to the Council of Europe, my visit offers another opportunity to state Armenia’s commitment to those values. Believing in the future of our organization, we find that when facing challenges in the region and beyond, the Council of Europe and PACE should speak the same language for the sake of our unity and authority.”

Then the President of the Republic met with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland. Before that Serzh Sargsyan made a note in the Golden Book of the Council of Europe and attended the signing of a number of CE Conventions and Protocols between Armenia and the Council of Europe.

“It is a great honor for me to be back to this cradle of modern democracy on our continent, which has a reputation of an advocate of human rights. Keen to expand cooperation, we consider that the ever-strengthening democracy in Armenia is the embodiment of our close relationship. Armenia reaffirms its unconditional commitment to these values as we work together to materialize the shared vision of democratic and peaceful Europe,” the President of Armenia wrote in the Golden Book of the Council of Europe.

President Serzh Sargsyan and CE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland summed up the results of their meeting with statements made for mass media.