Main proposals of the Armenian delegation were adopted.

On February 24 Gagik Minasyan, Head of the Armenian Delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) presented the results of the discussions, which were held in Istanbul at the beginning of the week.

In November the 38th PABSEC Meeting in Tirana had been incomplete because of the deconstructive position of the Albanian authorities, which had caused need of being gathered once again in Istanbul and discussing issues, establishing the budget of the Assembly. Gagik Minasyan has said that in parallel with procedural items, the item envisaging amendments in the Rules of Procedure has also been discussed. The Armenian Delegation for already more than two years has tried to consistently make amendments in the order of being elected in main positions. 12 countries joining the Assembly, depending the size of the country, are presented with different numbers in the PA delegations. As a result, during the voting Russia, Turkey or Ukraine get bigger opportunity of occupying posts, than the small countries. The Armenian delegation has presented six proposals of amending the Rules of Procedure in order to eliminate this inequality. The big states and, particularly, Turkey joining the organization were against the amendments being proposed: on the previous time those items have received negative conclusion. After tense discussions the Armenian side succeeded to make admissible the 4 proposals from the six ones in Istanbul. In particular, it has been fixed for the 5 Vice Presidents of the Assembly that every country can occupy that post only for one year, and that next year a deputy has no right to be nominated in the same post. In case of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Committee, the nomination has also been incessantly banned by the same country.

Similar situation has also been created in case of 8 officials of the PA Staff, having diplomatic passports, meanwhile it was important for Armenia to have an official having diplomatic authorities in Turkey. Gagik Minasyan appreciated the mentioned amendments a big achievement, considering remarkable that they succeeded under the presidency of Armenia in the PA.

The discussions were chaired by Areg Ghukasyan, NA deputy and member of the delegation in Istanbul, who as PABSEC Vice President had replaced the NA Speaker Samvel Nikoyan. In May, at the 39th PABSEC Plenary Meeting, Armenia will pass the presidency to Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, our delegation will continue the works for also reflecting the two proposals in the Rules of Procedure.