YEREVAN, MAY 5, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. The Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie (PAF) is a large and authoritative organization, whose system of values is based on values of democracy, human rights, legal state and all other values representing the European system of values, said Armen Rustamian - Head of the Armenian delegation in PAF. He declared during a talk with reporters at the 23th European regional forum of PAF held in Yerevan on May 4 that Armenia (which previously had the status of an observer, while currently it has the status of PAF's associated member) received greater opportunities to become fully involved in this organization and work in various directions. In his words, the indicated international organization has several thematic commissions dealing with problems of extension of political and interparliamentary ties, and the Armenian delegates in all these commissions have much work to do in order to present Armenia's problems in greater detail and use the opportunities provided by the organization. The membership of PAF in particular allows Armenia to communicate with several dozen African countries, with which Armenia has no occasion to communicate directly, except within the framework of the United Nations. "Very often we need assistance of this or that country and naturally, such ties are useful so that they could become acquainted with our problems and have better knowledge of all regional problems," A. Rustamian noted. Speaking about the PAF's 23th forum entitled "The Problems and Challenges of Educational Systems in Our Societies in the Context of Socioeconomic and Cultural Developments", A. Rustamian said that more than 80 representatives of various European countries, who have arrived in Armenia, will visit the Bryusov Linguistic University and the French University of Armenia as well as a number of schools in Yerevan to familiarize themselves with educational reforms in Armenia and the teaching of French at educational institutions. A number of projects to be implemented in Armenia, including the project on broadcasting programs of TV-5 - Francophonie's television channel, will also be discussed at the forum.

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