Yesterday NA speaker Hovik Abrahamyan met with the US Ambassador in Armenia Marie Yovanovitch. According to a recent statement released by the press department of the parliament, the ambassador said that if there is someone who can break the wall between the political parties, improve the Armenian-Turkish relations and support the peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict, that person is Serzh Sargsyan. Marie Yovanovitch said that the American government attaches importance to development of democracy in Armenia. The Ambassador said that on this way the fair mayoral election planned for May of this year would be a very important phase for developing democracy in Armenia. She hopes that fair and equal conditions will be provided for the competing parties and administrative resources will not be used. According to the mentioned statement, the speaker attached importance to integrity of elections as well and expressed commitment on part of the parliament to provide fair elections. By the way, during the meeting with Marie Yovanovitch the NA speaker said that he agreed with the information concerning trafficking in Armenia contained in the annual report of the US Department of State. The Ambassador said that Armenia is included in the list of the second group control countries.
“The Ambassador sees the positive work Armenia’s government is doing in this direction and she will support Armenia to be excluded from the controlled group,” writes the parliament’s statement. They also discussed the issue of Karabakh. Hovik Abrahamyan said that it is very important to settle the issue within the Minsk Group. The Ambassador said that the policy of the US in this regard has not changed. “The principles of non-application of power, territorial integrity and the right of self-determination of nations should apply,” said Marie Yovanovitch.