Sergei Neverov: building a dialogue with Armenia is our priority

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, head of the United Russia faction Sergei Neverov held a meeting with members of the Prosperous Armenia political party at the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia headed by the representative of the party, leader of the Tsarukyan bloc in the Armenian Parliament Gagik Tsarukyan
Leader of the Tsarukyan faction in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, head of the Prosperous Armenia political party Gagik Tsarukyan
Leader of the Tsarukyan faction in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, head of the Prosperous Armenia political party Gagik Tsarukyan

Members of the United Russia faction — head of the parliamentary group on relations with the Armenian Parliament Igor Shubin Shubin Igor Nikolaevich Shubin
Igor Nikolaevich
and Deputy Chairman of the Committee on State Building and Legislation Aleksandr Gribov Gribov Aleksandr Sergeeviсh Gribov
Aleksandr Sergeeviсh
participated in the meeting.

Opening the meeting, Sergei Neverov Neverov Sergey Ivanovich Neverov
Sergey Ivanovich
reminded that the State Duma and the United Russia faction cooperate “with many CIS countries, with many political blocs”. For example, today the State Duma holds the International Conference “Role of Interaction between Factions of Political Parties and Blocs in Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation of the CIS Countries”, and representatives of the Commonwealth of Independent States take part in it. Meetings of Russian parliamentarians with foreign delegations are held within the framework of the Conference.

“The meeting with our colleagues from Armenia is important for us; we have long-standing relations with this country,” the leader of the faction said.

He also thanked for the recent invitation to visit Armenia: “I have the most pleasant impressions of these meetings, especially with the young people, with members of the Parliament”.

Gagik Tsarukyan, in his turn, thanked Sergei Neverov for “warm welcome, attitude, attention — we cooperate every day.” “Time strengthens our relationship, our friendship. We are ready to continue our projects, programs, support. We are ready to work and work to see out nations communicating, getting acquainted, being friends. Such relations contribute to the prosperity of our countries — Russia, Armenia, our peoples,” the leader of the Tsarukyan bloc said.

“Building a dialogue with a strategic partner is clearly our priority,” Sergei Neverov said. “We have a common past, a common future that we are building for our children and future generations.”

It should be noted, parliamentary elections in Armenia will be held on December 9, and participants of the meeting also discussed this topic. The leader of the United Russia faction stressed that members of the State Duma “are closely monitoring” what is happening in Armenia “in this challenging period”.

“We have already discussed the issue of dispatching electoral observers not only from the State Duma, but also from such organizations as the OSCE,” Sergei Neverov said and wished for Gagik Tsarukyan’s bloc to maintain representation in Parliament and increase its membership after the elections.

The parliamentarians also discussed key issues of Armenian-Russian relations, issues of deepening inter-parliamentary and inter-party relations. In particular, Sergei Neverov considers it necessary to develop further cooperation between the two countries, also through the Eurasian Economic Union and the CSTO. “We should use these opportunities,” he said.

In addition, the parties during the meeting noted the need to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the economic sphere. As Armenian parliamentarians mentioned, Russia is the main trading and economic partner — more than 1 000 joint Armenian-Russian ventures operate in Armenia at present.