Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan today received the delegation led by President of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, French presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse, as reported the Department of Public Relations and Communication of the National Assembly of Armenia.
Greeting the guests, the parliamentary speaker stated that France is the absolute leader in terms of the number of visits to Armenia and that this is based on the centuries-old relations between the two peoples and the close political cooperation.
Simonyan expressed gratitude to Valerie Pecresse for the resolution on recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh that the Regional Council of Ile-de-France adopted, as well as for allocating EUR 75,000 in assistance to take care of the needs of persons displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Expressing gratitude for the reception, the French presidential candidate attached importance to the multipolar cooperation with Armenia and mentioned that this is the reason why her visit to Armenia is her first visit as a presidential candidate. According to her, the two countries are bearers of the same universal values and that France can’t stay indifferent towards the issues concerning Armenia.
During the conversation, the parties touched upon the current situation in post-war Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the unresolved humanitarian issues and the protection of cultural heritage. In this context, they discussed the priorities for the repatriation of Armenians being held in Azerbaijan, and Pecresse attached importance to the role of the international community in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
At the end of the meeting, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan assured that the dynamic development of the relations with France will be ongoing, regardless of the results of the French presidential elections.
