On day one of the Seminar, the participants were welcomed by moderator Mr Koryun Nahapetyan, Head of the Armenian delegation to NATO PA, and then the participants of the gathering were addressed by the following, in their welcome speeches: Mr Galust Sahakyan, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia; Mr Paolo Alli, Vice President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly; Mr Lukas Gasser, Ambassador of Switzerland to Armenia; and Mr Eduard Nalbandyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia.

The first session titled: “Armenian Co-operation with the Euro-Atlantic Community: Security, Politics, and Economics” was moderated by Mr Hugh Bayley, UK, former NATO PA President, and the participants of the gathering in this part were addressed by Mr Seyran Ohanyan, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Armenia, and Mr Dirk Lorenz, Chargé d’Affaires at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Armenia, which was followed by the time allocated for discussion on the topic.

The second session titled: “The Rise of ISIS in the Middle East and Beyond (Impact on the Armenian Diaspora)”, was moderated by Mr Franklin van Kappen, the Netherlands, Vice Chairman of the NATO PA Economics and Security Committee, and the participants of the gathering were addressed by Ms Domitilla Sagramoso, Lecturer at Department of War Studies, King’s College, London, and Mr Ruben Safrastyan, Director at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Armenian National Academy of Sciences, which was followed by discussion of participants on the topic.

89th Rose-Roth Seminar of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, supported by the Swiss Government, gathers parliamentarians from NATO member states and partner states, representatives of governments, international organisations, NGOs, universities, and representatives of public opinion.

Permanent Delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro in this Seminar is represented by its member Mr Borislav Banović.

The 89th Rose-Roth Seminar of the NATO PA will continue tomorrow.