YEREVAN, JUNE 6, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan received today the delegation led by Chair of the Mazhilis (lower house) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan Erlan Qoşanov who arrived in Armenia on the sidelines of the session of the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, the Parliament’s press service said.

Welcoming the counterpart, Alen Simonyan thanked him for being in Armenia at decisive days for Kazakhstan.

“Yesterday your country held a referendum on constitutional amendments, and departing for Yerevan after that important event is appreciated”, the Armenian Speaker of Parliament said.

Touching upon the regional security issues, Simonyan said Armenia is committed to the peace and stability agenda. He said that the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict remains vital for Armenia, adding that it’s not a territorial dispute as presented by the leadership of Baku, but a matter of rights of the local Armenian population. Alen Simonyan asked his Kazakh colleague to contribute to solving the humanitarian issues relating to Nagorno Karabakh.

The sides positively assessed the level of the Armenian-Kazakh multilateral relations based on traditional friendship and mutual understanding. They highlighted the special role of the legislative bodies of Armenia and Kazakhstan, given that the Armenian-Kazakh political relations continue developing at rapid rates. Both sides emphasized the mutual cooperation in international field and the active participation in international organizations.

In turn the Kazakh Mazhilis Speaker said he has conducted his military service in Armenia in the Soviet years, adding that he returned to familiar places, everything here is familiar to him and he will never forget Mount Ararat. He presented the referendum on constitutional amendments, stating that it was a step ahead on the path to democracy. He thanked for the observer mission sent by Armenia for the referendum. Erlan Qoşanov praised the fact that this is his first inter-state visit to Armenia after being elected.

Erlan Qoşanov said that the participation of Armenia and Kazakhstan to the Eurasian integration process opens new opportunities for commercial cooperation, stating that today’s figures do not reflect the real opportunities, especially when there are prospective acceptable projects both in Armenia and Kazakhstan which could be implemented based on mutual benefit.

Erlan Qoşanov invited Alen Simonyan to pay an official visit to Kazakhstan.

At the end of the meeting the Kazakh delegates toured the Armenian Parliament’s buildings.