PACE President held private talks with David Harutyunyan
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Jean-Claude Mignon has had meetings with the heads of the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations to the PACE.
Head of the Armenian delegation David Harutyunyan said the main goal of the meeting was to find out how the parties view the scope of activities envisaged by PACE Resolution 1418. We remind that the title of that Resolution is "The Conflict of the Nagorno-Karabakh Region Regulated within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Congress" (25 January, 2005). The Resolution particularly calls upon Armenia and Azerbaijan to promote political reconciliation between each other by expanding bilateral inter-parliamentary cooperation. The Assembly also proposes that the two delegations meet during each session of the Assembly to review the progress for such reconciliation.
"I have presented Armenia's position and I don't think there is a big difference between this position and our previous ones," said Harutyunyan, not wishing to go into details.
When asked whether the PACE President would meet with the heads of both delegations at the same time, Harutyunyan said: "That will happen at some point. I'm not sure whether that will take place during this sitting or the next because I think the parties have presented their positions and the PACE needs time to analyze all that and draw certain conclusions."
Head of the Azerbaijani delegation Samad Seidov has also met with Jean-Claude Mignon. He didn't wish to go into details and simply said he viewed the meeting as an efficient one. The head of the delegation said the parties had a sincere conversation and reached some agreements, including an agreement on making such meetings ongoing.
Karine Asatryan
Strasbourg
