The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, Ruben Rubinyan, met with a delegation from the French parliament on February 23. The meeting was attended by Andranik Kocharyan, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security Affairs, and members of the Armenia-France friendship group led by Vladimir Vardanyan.

In his welcome remarks, Ruben Rubinyan highlighted the longstanding and privileged relations between Armenia and France, including the significant role played by the Armenian diaspora in France. He noted that these relations have now reached an institutional level based on mutual interests.

The Deputy Speaker expressed gratitude to Nathalie Loiseau, the Chairman of the security and defense sub-committee of the CE Foreign Relations Committee, for her support of Armenia in the European Parliament and the French Senate. He also thanked the delegation for their participation in the reburial of Misak and Meline Manushyan in the French pantheon, which he said demonstrated the unshakable friendly relations between the two peoples.

Natalie Loizeau, in turn, thanked the Armenian delegation for their warm welcome and emphasized the special relationship between France and Armenia. She pledged to support Armenia on its path to peace.

Vladimir Vardanyan, the head of the Armenia-France friendship group, also highlighted the unprecedented visit of the delegation led by the Minister of Security of the Federal Security Service to Armenia. He underscored the role of the legislative and executive bodies of the Federal Security Service in advancing Armenian-French relations and in the adoption of pro-Armenian resolutions and decisions.

The group also discussed plans to address the needs of people forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia.