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Armenia observes Iran as a friendly country and a reliable partner, Speaker of Armenian parliament Ararat Mirzoyan stated on Thursday at the meeting with Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran (in Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri.

Touching upon the Artsakh conflict, Ararat Mirzoyan stated that it is necessary to call into life the affirmed agreements after the tripartite statement signed on November 9 on the ceasefire: to carry out the urgent exchange of prisoners of war and other captive persons as a priority with the principle all-for-all as soon as possible. The Speaker also added that the conflict could not be considered solved eventually, unless the issue of Nagorno Karabakh status would be regulated in the format of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship – the Artsakh Armenians’ right to self-determination. Ararat Mirzoyan underlined that Iran cannot abstain from expressing its position on Artsakh issue, taking into consideration also the active involvement of other regional states for the benefit of the Azerbaijani side, both in the phase of military actions and during its following period.

Ambassador Zohouri informed that the Iranian side welcomes the reaching of the agreement on ceasefire in Artsakh and reaffirmed the viewpoint voiced by the FM Zarif that the problem of repatriation of prisoners of war shall be speedily solved.

During the meeting the sides discussed a number of issues on more enlivening of the inter-parliamentary ties, the activation of the economic relations between the two countries and developing joint economic activities especially in Syunik, the press department at the parliament reported.