PACE Ad Hoc Committee established in 2005 was unable to promote confidence building measures between the Armenian and Azerbaijani PACE delegations, the head of Armenian delegation to PACE, David Harutyunyan stated.

As he stressed in his speech delivered during PACE spring session, “the suspension of the activities of the Ad Hoc Committee was conditioned by this failure and not by the fact of the passing away of Lord Russell-Johnston.”

“Rather than to prompt a reconstitution of the Committee and to denote a fait accompli, the duty of the President of the Assembly was to inform the Bureau about these reasons and the results of his consultations with the Armenian and Azeri parliamentary delegations.”

“De-escalation of current tense relations between the two delegations is the first minimum step to enable genuine contribution to the process of reconciliation between the societies concerned. The Armenian side has come forward with concrete proposals, which remain valid,” Harutyunyan stressed in his speech.

In January 25 letter addressed to PACE bureau members, which, for obscure reasons never reached the addressees, Armenian delegation urged organization of continuous meetings aimed at creating the atmosphere of trust and easing the existing tension between the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations.

Ad hoc Committee is expected to resume work during the current PACE session.