On October 15, Speaker of the NKR National Assembly Ashot Ghulyan had a meeting with British MP Dirk Van der Mylen at the Parliament of the Kingdom of Belgium. The sides discussed issues related to parliamentary cooperation and the perspectives for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

As reported by the NKR National Assembly’s press service to “ArtsakhPress”, Ghulyan’s next meeting was with representatives of the expert and analysis centers in Brussels. During the meeting, the sides touched upon global and regional issues and the ways of solving the Azerbaijani-Karabakhi conflict in that context. Ashot Ghulyan answered questions from the experts.

Later, the Speaker of the NKR National Assembly, with the accompaniment of RA Ambassador to Brussels Tatul Margaryan, visited the Mary Magdalene Armenian Church and paid tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide. During the second half of the day, in the European Parliament Ashot Ghulyan had a meeting with executive director of Europe’s “Free Alliance” Party Gunter Dauen and the party’s political affairs consultant Eva Bidania. The interlocutors discussed the possible ways and perspectives of the cooperation between Europe’s “Free Alliance” and Artsakh’s political system. On the same day, the European Parliament hosted a solemn event and reception dedicated to the 23^rd anniversary of the Independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Among those attending the event were Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Cyprus Jannakis Omiru, more than a dozen Members of the European Parliament, head of the EU-Armenia Friendship Group Eleni Theocharous and representatives of the “European Friends of Armenia” and other international organizations based in Brussels.

The speaker of NKR National Assembly presented the achievements that have been made since the NKR’s declaration of independence and the current problems, the efforts being made to settle the Azerbaijani-Karabakhi conflict and the opportunities for cooperation with European organizations. Member of the European Parliament Frank Engel gave a speech in which he welcomed the anniversary of the NKR’s independence and declared the need for forming a friendship group with Artsakh within the European Parliament.

RA Ambassador Tatul Margaryan, patriarchal delegate of Western Europe, Vicar of Benilux, Archimandrite Zatik Avetikyan, chairman of the Standing Committee of the RA National Assembly on Foreign Relations Artak Zakaryan and Professor of the University of Luven Bernard Coulie also gave their welcoming remarks at the event.