Dear Colleagues,

Today's plenary sitting concludes the fifth session of the National Assembly of the 6^th convocation.

In accordance with the NA Rules of Procedure, I present to your attention an Annual Report on the Activities of the Parliament for 2016-2017. Summarizing the results of our joint work, we must state that during the reporting period, 14 plenary sittings were convened in the National Assembly, 58 bills were introduced in circulation (1 of which was initiated by the President of the Republic, 50 – by the Government, and 7 – by Deputies). One deputy initiative was withdrawn, 20 draft laws were postponed until the next session. 37 laws were adopted 10 of which are basic.

The number of adopted laws by the standing committees is as follows:

• Standing Committee on Budget, Financial and Economic Management - 16 laws, 3 of which are basic;
• Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs - 7 laws, 4 of which are basic;
• Standing Committee on Production and Manufacturing Infrastructure - 5 laws, 3 of which are basic;
• Standing Committee on Social Affairs and Health - 5 laws;
• Standing Committee on Defense, Security and Law Enforcement - 4 laws;
• In the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations as well as in the Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sports draft laws were not submitted.

During the sessions a number of annual programs, reports and communications were approved. To date, no law passed by the National Assembly has been returned.

On June 27, at the initiative of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, parliamentary hearings on the Kurdish issue and regional developments were organized.

During the reporting period, 252 outgoing letters and documents were registered; the National Assembly received 554 official letters and documents. 138 applications were received from citizens, 81 of which were granted. The NA President issued 53 orders and 70 executive orders (total 123), and the Head of the Staff of the National Assembly - 115 orders. 102 business trips were made, 92 of which - to the Republic of Armenia, 10 - abroad.

Over the year, 18 journalists, 2 cameramen, and 1 photographer representing 8 mass media were accredited in the National Assembly. The activities of the Parliament were duly covered on the official website, as well as through social networks and public television.

As of June 28 of this year, 9 programs of the “Parliamentary hour” and 5 programs on the question-answer procedure of the National Assembly-Government were broadcast.

Details on the activities of the Press service of the National Assembly for the indicated period can be found at the following link.

In 2016 - 2017, the Parliament continued to expand external relations and contacts, receiving political figures and parliamentarians from different countries. Since when summarizing the results of the 4th session, information on inter-parliamentary relations for September-December was presented, now let us present the work done in this direction only for the 5th parliamentary session.

In particular:

• Visit of international delegations from Argentina, the USA, Bolivia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil, the Basque Country, Spain, Canada, Armenia, Mexico, Russian Federation, Uruguay, France, Abkhazia, Transnistria, South Ossetia and the European Parliament to Artsakh with the observation mission for the constitutional referendum.
• Reception of the Belgian Federal and Brussels Regional Parliament deputies Andre du Bas de Warnaffe, Emmanuel de Bock and Pierre Kompany in the National Assembly;
• The visit of the Belgian senator, the deputy of the Flemish parliament Joris Poshet to the National Assembly and the meeting with the "Republic of Artsakh-European Parliament" friendship group;
• Visit of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Ara Babloyan and the delegation headed by him to Artsakh, and an expanded format meeting with parliamentarians;
• Reception in the Parliament of a group of young representatives of the European institution of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), members of the Youth Parliament of the Francophones of the Republic of Armenia, students of the Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and participants of the Leadership School Fund;
• Meetings of representatives of the executive and legislative authorities of the Republic of Armenia with the deputies of the Artsakh Parliament.

It is worth noting that the parliamentary delegations of Artsakh carried out an observation mission in the parliamentary elections in Abkhazia on March 12, the elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on April 2, and the presidential elections in South Ossetia on April 9.

The Republic of Artsakh National Assembly has been co-organizer of the third forum of Armenian parties held in Stepanakert from June 16 to 18.

During this session, due to the parliamentary elections in Armenia, no meetings of the “Republic of Artsakh National Assembly and the Republic of Armenia National Assembly interparliamentary commission on cooperation” were held; however, a preliminary agreement was reached to organize a meeting in September- October this year.

This was a brief picture of the activities of the National Assembly for the reporting period.

The end of the session does not mean the beginning of the summer vacation: I would like to note that in accordance with the provisions of the new Constitution of the Republic of Artsakh the procedure for electing the President of the Republic by the Parliament will be held in the second half of July. The preparations will start from July 5th.

Probably, within the same period of time we will convene an extraordinary session to consider two draft laws submitted in the framework of post-constitutional processes – the Judicial Code adopted on first reading and the package of laws on the Audit Chamber – taking into account the fact that these two laws must be adopted before September 1.

Dear Colleagues,

During the fifth session, the second year of operation of the Artsakh Parliament of the 6^th convocation was marked. And, in general, the work done for this period may be summarized as follows: the activity of the current National Assembly has entered into its normal course, and this must necessarily have its continuation. I am confident that our will and purposefulness are sufficient to adequately withstand current and new challenges.