Armenian, Moldovan top legislators meet in Yerevan  

President of the Armenian National Asssembly Ararat Mirzoyan on Monday received a delegation led by Zinaida Greceanii, the speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, to duscuss the cooperation between the two countries’ top legislative bodies.

Greeting his Moldovan counterpart in his office for private talks, Mirzoyan expressed a firm belief that her visit to Armenia will impart a new stimultus to the bilateral agenda. He emphasized, particularly, the mutual understanding and respect as a key factor underlying the developing relations. Highlighting parliaments’ paramount role in enhancing a dialogue, Mirzoyan also appreciated the mutual cooperation on different international platforms.

According to a press release by the National Assembly, the sides also had an exchange over domestic developments.                                

The Moldovan speaker briefed Mirzoyan on her country's ongoing justice reforms, focusing particularly on the re-arrangement in their Constitutional Court. She noted that many judges, who faced pressure under the previous regime, had enough boldness to revoke their earlier judgements and to resign to pave way for the successors to work “in the country’s best interests”, protecting their own Constitution.

Greceanîi said that Moldova is now amid “serious judicial-legal reforms” after the complete reshuffle in the country’s top court.  

She said that she is highly impressed by the road development activities in Armenia, adding that they expect the prime minister’s visit to Moldova to share the country’s post-revolutionary experience.  

“We are also interested in your experience of attracting investments,” she said, conveying an invitation also to Mirzoyan and the parliamentary friendship group to visit Moldova to consider cooperation formats.

Agreeing that the developments in the two countries take different turns, Mirzoyan highlighted, nonetheless, also many similarities. He said, particularly, that Armenia will hold a constitutional referendum on April 5 after the failure of many judges of the Constitutional Court not step down by exercising their right to an early retirement.

At the extended meeting attended by the delegation members, Mirzoyan emphasized Armenia’s interest in a comprehensive cooperation with Moldova (covering the poltiical, economic, humanitarian and IT sectors). He also highlighed the great potential for bilateral and multilateral cooperation formats, noting that the two countries have signed a total of 22 documents in the past years, puhsing ahead with a high-level political dialogue (especially on different international platforms, including the CIS, the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union).

Re-emphasizing the importance of inter-parliamentary dialogue in the bilateral relations, Mirzoyan expressed a firm belief that the parliamentary groups’ dynamic work will be directed to future new cooperation trends and individual contacts. “We are disposed to working actively also in the future in an effort to develop a broad agenda. I am confident that the high level of the constructive cooperation will allow us to realize the centuries-old cooperation between our parliaments and countries,” he added.