French President Francois Hollande has met Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and said that the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process was entering the final phase. Hollande said that the talks should be concluded basing on the Madrid principles. He added that it was part of France’s responsibility within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.
The French leader noted that effort had been put in improving diplomatic relations in the last 20 years.
Sargsyan thanked Hollande for the invitation to France and invited him to Armenia. He expressed hope for more involvement of France in the economic life of Armenia and increase of trade turnover. The French president accepted the invitation.
Hollande added that France will pass the bill on criminalization of Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. The bill was initiated by President Nicolas Sarkozy, but failed to pass the Constitutional Council. Sarkozy and Hollande both promised to pass the bill during their electoral campaign in 2012.
Sargsyan will also meet French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, President of the National Assembly Claude Bartolone and President of the Senate Jean-Pierre Bel.
