As much as the Armenian-American relations are friendly and based on partnership, they need restarting, especially in the parliamentary format, a senior Armenian lawmaker visiting the United States as part of a delegation said.
Armen Ashotian, chairman of the Standing Foreign Relations Commission in the Armenian Parliament and a senior member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, noted that reciprocal visits of Armenian and American parliamentarians have not taken place for a long time.
“Until last year’s visit of a high-profile U.S. Congressional group to Armenia and this year’s visit of ours, perhaps because of geographical or other problems, for some time [parliamentary relations] had been all but frozen and needed additional energy. And we are providing this energy with such a visit,” Ashotian stressed.
According to the Armenian parliamentarian, the Armenian delegation led by Deputy Parliament Speaker Arpine Hovannisian and including representatives of all four parliamentary factions, has had quite high-level meetings in the United States, including meetings with representatives of the Congressional Armenian Caucus and members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“There were important meetings at the U.S. Department of State, and today the series will continue within the framework of the National Security Council. We have also met with the expert community, in particular the deputy director of the Carnegie Foundation, and discussed issues related to our region,” said Ashotian.
According to him, the United States is the superpower dictating the political agenda in the world, and it is very important that the opinion formed in Washington about Armenia is adequate and that Americans get first-hand information about the processes taking place in Armenia.
“After such visits it is important to keep the moment and implement the agreements reached. I am confident that the friendship group and the entire parliament will keep the Armenian-American relations high on the agenda,” Ashotian concluded.