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First Deputy Speaker visits Armenia

Published:

On 22–24 January 2025, the First Deputy Speaker Kenneth G Forslund (Social Democratic Party) attended a NB8 visit to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Speakers from the parliaments of the Nordic and Baltic countries also participated in the visit. The visit was the result of an invitation from the President of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan.

The programme included discussions on democracy issues, enhanced EU cooperation with Armenia, the country's reform agenda, as well as peace and security in the southern Caucasus. In addition to meetings with the President of the National Assembly of Armenia, the participating Speakers also met the President of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and the Standing Committee on European Integration of the National Assembly.

In addition to this, the Speakers from the Nordic and Baltic parliaments and the President of the National Assembly of Armenia also participated in a panel discussion on the theme “Together for Peace and Democracy”, with the participation of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Armenian Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan and invited representatives from political parties, civil society organisations and the diplomatic corps in Armenia.

Background

The abbreviation NB8 stands for Nordic-Baltic cooperation. As part of the informal collaboration between the Speakers of the Nordic-Baltic parliaments, a joint meeting is held annually, and in addition to this, at some point each year a joint visit to another country’s parliament is also arranged. In between these meetings, the Speakers keep in regular informal contact with each other regarding topical issues and they also meet in other contexts, for example, in connection with international conferences of Speakers at interparliamentary assemblies or other international conferences. In cases where the Speaker of the Riksdag is unable to participate, he is replaced with one of the Deputy Speakers,

First Deputy Speaker Kenneth G Forslund (S) stands together with speakers from the parliaments of the Nordic and Baltic countries.
Photo: Riigikogu, Parliament of Estonia

From the left: Deputy Speaker of the Danish Parliament Karsten Hønge, President of the Norwegian Parliament Masud Gharahkhani, Speaker of the Parliament of Finland Jussi Halla-aho, President of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan, Speaker of the Parliament of Latvia Daiga Mieriņa, President of the Estonian Parliament Lauri Hussar, Deputy Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Juozas Olekas, and First Deputy Speaker of the Swedish Parliament Kenneth G Forslund.