Members of Armenian delegation in PACE meet with T. Jagland

Members of the Armenian delegation in the PACE: Zaruhi Postanjian, Levon Zurabian, Naira Zohrabian, Arpine Hovhannisian, and Naira Karapetian, along with the delegation head David Harutyunian met with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland, according to the press service of the Armenian parliament.

David Harutyunian called the visit of CoE Secretary General to Armenia important and historic as it takes place prior to Armenia’s assumption of the chairmanship of the CoE Committee of Ministers.

T. Jagland and the delegation members discussed the priorities of Armenia’s chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. The CoE Secretary General said Armenia takes its functions as chair seriously and responsibly. He expressed hope that cooperation with Armenia will become closer, adding that he has good grounds to think so: the CoE and Armenia have signed the Action Plan and the Memorandum of Understanding, which gave a new status to the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan.

The head of HAK faction of Armenian parliament Levon Zurabian expressed concern about democratization and the quality of elections. He touched upon restrictions on freedom of speech and the fact that the March 1-2, 2008 events have been disclosed.