Armenian Speaker Meets with Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi

WASHINGTON, DC — Parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan reportedly called for greater U.S. assistance to Armenia when he met with U.S. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell in Washington on Tuesday.

Mirzoyan also held a separate meeting with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the sidelines of an international forum held in the U.S. capital. According to the Armenian parliament’s press office, he briefed Pelosi on ongoing developments in Armenia and thanked her for her “contribution to U.S.-Armenian relations.”

Pelosi has long supported measures championed by the Armenian community in the United States, notably draft resolutions recognizing the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey. Her California constituency has a large number of ethnic Armenians.

In a separate statement, the office said Mirzoyan discussed with McConnell “possibilities of increasing financial assistance provided by the United States to Armenia.” It said they also talked about Armenia’s foreign policy and energy security as well as “regional stability.”