We Have Opened a New Chapter in Our History: Simonian

We have opened a new chapter in our history. This was stated today by the President of the National Assembly Alen Simonian during his speech at the opening of the 4th meeting of the Armenia-EU Parliamentary Partnership Committee.

“Armenia has chosen the path of development through democracy, standing at the roots of the values of European civilization and firmly continuing to strengthen democracy and its policy of defending and empowering the country with its own forces. We understand that this is a very difficult and dangerous path. The rapidly changing realities in the world compel us to be broad-minded and make the right decisions, no matter how difficult they may be,” Simonian emphasized.

According to Simonian, the Armenian government has proposed a peace crossroads project that aims to make transportation and communication routes in our region more efficient, based on the principles of sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and reciprocity between countries. “We strive to pursue a balanced policy with the countries of the region and the centers of power, with security, economy, energy, and other sectors being the basis for diversification. We are expanding cooperation with EU member states in various fields. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the EU for the significant financial support it provides for the reforms taking place in Armenia and a number of landmark initiatives,” he added.

Alen Simonian also noted that all of this is happening within the framework of the deepening and defining new agenda of cooperation between Armenia and the European Union. The vivid evidence of this is the series of important events that have taken place in recent months. “The dialogue on visa liberalization has begun, Armenia has been included in the European Peace Facility program, the EU has extended the presence of its civilian mission at Armenia's borders for another two years, which has evidently and significantly reduced the number of incidents at the border and prevented the risk of possible escalation. And finally, just a few days ago, on February 13, the National Assembly of Armenia adopted the law on the start of the process of Armenia joining the European Union in the first reading, which is a true expression of the determination of our citizens striving to become part of the European community. Dear colleagues, once again, I welcome you to Yerevan and wish you effective work,” Simonian concluded.