President visits Armenia
While in Yerevan, Bronisław Komorowski met with President Serzh Sargsyan, the Prime Minister, Tigran Sargsyan, and Hovik Abrahamyan, the speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia. He also took part in an Armenian-Polish business forum and met with the Armenian community.
Thursday morning saw the Polish president lay flowers at the Tsitsernakaberd, a memorial dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, in Yerevan. He also visited the Armenian Genocide Museum. The Polish deputation laid white carnations close to the eternal fire, the central point of the monument. The Polish president also planted a symbolic spruce at the memory lane. The monument commemorates the Armenian Genocide which took place in 1915.
The presidents of Armenia and Poland discussed the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh and the programme of activity of the Eastern Partnership.
Serzh Sargsyan, the Armenian president, believes that the security of Nagorno-Karabakh should be ensured. The Polish president believes that the involvement of the West in solving the issue of contentious territories should be connected with appeasing the conflict.
“Poland is of the opinion that issues pertaining to borders and ethnic matters should be solved respecting to two rules: the principle of territorial inviolability and the security of borders and the principle concerning the right of nations to independent self-determination” Bronisław Komorowski stressed at the press conference held for him and Sargsyan.
The Polish president also remarked that Poland “wishes Armenia good progress on its road towards European integration”. “This is now the most important challenge Armenia faces” he noted.
Komorowski added that he hopes Armenia will take an active part in the summit of the Eastern Partnership which is to take place on 29th and 30th September 2011 in Warsaw. “The Eastern Partnership creates numerous opportunities, of which one seems particularly important to me: the opportunity to train and educate clerical staff” he remarked.