The president of the National Council, Dominique de Buman, is taking up the invitation extended to him by his Armenian counterpart, Mr Ara Babloyan, and will travel to Yerevan, the Armenian capital, for an official visit on 3 February. During the four-day visit, Mr de Buman is due to meet members of the presidential college of the Armenian National Assembly as well as representatives from the country’s various political groupings. Mr de Buman will also speak before the National Assembly and will lay a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial and Museum.
Mr de Buman, who will be accompanied by a parliamentary delegation, will also have the opportunity to meet Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan. Switzerland is among the top ten foreign trading partners and investors in Armenia. Mr de Buman will therefore take the opportunity to attend an economic forum organised by the Development Foundation of Armenia along with a Swiss business delegation. He will also visit a number of businesses and speak with entrepreneurs.
Development cooperation will also be an important topic during the visit. As part of its 2017-2020 cooperation strategy for the South Caucasus, Switzerland supports sustainable economic development, the strengthening of democratic institutions and the promotion of dialogue in the region. In Armenia it is active in the field of agriculture and the process of decentralisation. To that end the delegation is expected to make a field visit to the region of Vayotz Dzor. The delegation will also recognise the wide range of cultural exchanges between the two countries by visiting the vast artistic installation created by Swiss artist Felice Varini at Yerevan’s main railway station. Furthermore, the delegation will be received by His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II at the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The delegation travelling with the president of the National Council will consist of National Council member and first vice president Marina Carobbio Guscetti (SP/TI), National Council member and second vice president Isabelle Moret (FDP/VD), National Council members Sibel Arslan (Green Party/BS), Tiana Angelina Moser (GL/ZH), Rosmarie Quadranti (BDP/ZH), Marianne Streiff-Feller (CVP/BE) and Adrian Amstutz (SVP/BE), as well as Philippe Schwab, Secretary General of the Federal assembly, Cédric Stucky, Dep. Head of International Affairs & Multilingualism, and Sarkis Shahinian, an expert on Armenian affairs.