May 19, a press-conference of the chairman of the NA NKR Ashot Ghoulyan on the results of the 5th Convocation was held.

In his speech Ashot Ghoulyan presented the work of the legislature for the period of 2010-2015. He particularly specified the work of the legislative and political functions of the parliament as well as other functions conferred on the Parliament by the Constitution.

National Assembly Chairman noted that the 5th convocation Parliament adopted 440 laws for the period of its activity. During last 11 sessions 51 plenary sessions and 5 extraordinary have been held in total. Participation of the parliamentarians at the sessions was satisfactory.

A total of 493 legislative initiatives were received, of which 4 were presented by the President, 17 – by the MPs, 472 – by the Government.

The Head of the Parliament also called satisfying the cooperation between legislative and executive authorities for the period. He noted that all the draft laws and various documents submitted to the National Assembly and being in circulation have been reviewed with an active participation of the authorized representatives of the executive power in the atmosphere of mutual understanding.

National Assembly also carried out other functions assigned by the Constitution, such as the appointment of the Prime minister with the agreement of the Parliament, election of the human rights defender, appointment of the chairman and the judges of the Supreme court, appointment of the General Prosecutor, chairman of the Control Chamber, appointment of the two lawyers – members of the Judicial Council.

In terms of political activity the Parliament held a series of activities including separate, extended or joint meetings of the standing committees, parliament hearings, conferences etc. Declarations of the National Assembly and deputy faction were adopted. Participation of non-parliamentary parties and different social parties were provided during these discussions.

Together with this systematic work has been carried out to enhance cooperation. In particular, over the past 5 years thanks to mutual visits, official and non-official meetings in different formats bilateral relations have been established with the parliaments of RF, France, USA, Great Britain, Luxemburg, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Canada, Australia, Uruguay, European Parliament, OSCE Minsk group co-chairmen, parliaments of a number of US states and autonomous provinces of Spain, other countries and international structures.

Ashot Ghoulyan called institutionalization of the friendly relations with the parliaments of different countries as one of the serious achievements of the 5th convocation parliament. This can include the decision of a group of deputies of the Lithuanian Seimas to create a Parliamentary Group for Friendship with Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Touching upon the inter-parliamentary relations, Ashot Ghoulyan praised the work of the Commission for inter-parliamentary cooperation Artsakh-Armenia. 6 sittings of the commissions in Stepanakert and Yerevan were convened, involvement of the representatives of the executives in the parliamentary discussions.

NKR National Assembly continued to develop relations with other states of the post-Soviet state that declared independence – the parliaments of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.

On May 20, 2013 a Friendship Group Artsakh-Lithuania was created. Creating of the Circle of Friendship Artsakh-France, March 19 2013, strengthened the correct vector for the tendencies in parliamentary relations. October 16 2014, creation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Group in the European Parliament was announced. 

Ashot Ghoulyan noted that although during the period of the 5th convocation the relations  parliament - electorate have not been successful, but they were realized in forms of receptions, private meetings, parliamentarians’ visits as well as review of the written applications of the citizens.

798 petitions of the citizens addressed to the Chairman of the NA were given a motion in accordance with the legislation and positive decisions were given to the majority of the applications. The answers to a number of letters have been postponed due to the fact that some requests and issues were beyond the competence of the Parliament.

For the specified period National Assembly activity was covered by the accredited media representatives in the parliament, various NKR, Armenia and Diaspora electronic information resources as well as in social networks and the official website.

Summarizing the main results of the parliament activities for the last five years, Chairman of the NA emphasized that the main feature of the legislative body in the reporting period can be called the beginning of the process of joining the international treaties and conventions.

Ashot Ghoulyan expressed confidence that the work of the 5th convocation NA will become a serious prerequisite of the further development of the parliamentary traditions in Artsakh and the work of the newly elected NA of the 6th convocation for the benefit of the Independent state and fulfillment of the dreams of the people.