President meets with Italian Chamber of Deputies Speaker Roberto Fico

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan met with Roberto Fico, President of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy.

At the beginning of the meeting, Roberto Fico asked about the course of President Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Italy and the Vatican. President Sargsyan presented the hectic agenda of his visit, the results of the meetings and the agreements reached in quite a warm atmosphere.

Congratulating Roberto Fico on being elected to the office of President of the Chamber of Deputies, Serzh Sargsyan wished him fruitful work and expressed the hope that he would make an important contribution to the further development of Armenian-Italian inter-parliamentary cooperation.

Highlighting the role of parliamentary ties in terms of promoting the interstate agenda, the President of Armenia advised that the National Assembly of Armenia has formed a good tradition of friendly relations with the parliaments of many European countries. President Sargsyan stressed that it is time to upgrade the Armenian-Italian inter-parliamentary cooperation to a new level, especially as there are all the necessary preconditions for that. In this context, Serzh Sargsyan considered it self-evident that Italian Parliament’s previous friendship group with Armenia was one of the two largest groups in the world.

The President of Armenia noted that after Armenia’s transition to the parliamentary system of governance, there will be much more opportunities and potential for cooperation that needs to be tapped in full. The President expressed the hope that following the latest parliamentary elections in Italy, the Friendship Group will be reorganized as soon as possible, and the Armenian-Italian inter-parliamentary cooperation will continue strengthening and deepening.

Taking the opportunity, President Sargsyan said he had fond recollections of his visit to Naples, Mr. Fico’s birthplace, as part of his previous visit to Italy and noted that the city is more than friendly to Armenians. The President of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy stressed that he is well aware of this and knows that the Church of St. Gregory the Armenian is in Naples where the relics of Grigor Lusavorich are kept.

The interlocutors referred to EU-Armenia relations and the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement signed with the EU last November. They also exchanged views over the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. The President of Armenia gave details of the recent developments and the approaches of the Armenian side which go in tune with the principles and approaches of the OSCE Minsk Group.

In the framework of his working visit to Italy, President Serzh Sargsyan gave an interview to Italian La Stampa periodical.