Meeting decides to intensify activities of the Lithuanian and Armenian inter-parliamentary relations groups

Press release, 12 July 2022

On 11 July 2022, Raimundas Lopata, Chair of the Seimas Group for Inter-Parliamentary Relations with the Republic of Armenia, initiated a remote meeting with Arsen Torosyan, the newly appointed Head of Armenia-Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia Friendship Group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.

Mr Torosyan is a member of Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party. He previously served as the Armenian Minister of Health and Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister.

The participants of the meeting also included Inga Stanytė-Toločkienė, Ambassador of Lithuania to Armenia; Hovhannes Igityan, Ambassador of Armenia to Lithuania; and Karapet Babayan, Honorary Consul of Armenia in Lithuania.

Mr Lopata congratulated his colleague on the new position and expressed hope for bilateral in-person meetings in the autumn.

Mr Torosyan thanked his counterpart for the warm greetings and welcomed the active work of the Armenia-Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia Friendship Group of the National Assembly. The Armenian politician took note of the large size of the group that included representatives of all Armenian parliamentary parties. At the same time, however, he mentioned that opposition MPs were boycotting the work of the National Assembly and were not taking part in the sessions and committee meetings.

The Armenian Ambassador to Lithuania emphasised the importance of cooperation between the two countries and proposed holding bilateral friendship group consultations on topical matters such as health, social and regional policies. He also proposed commemorating the 31st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Armenia and stressed that this could be arranged at Parliament’s initiative.

Lina Bučelytė, Chief Specialist, International Relations Unit, tel. +370 5 239 6493, e-mail: [email protected]