ArmenPress
Feb 22 2005

DEFENSE MINISTER, OSCE OFFICE HEAD SIGN AGREEMENT FOR ELIMINATION OF
ROCKET FUEL

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS: Defense minister Serzh Sarkisian
and Vladimir Pryakhin, the head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, signed
today an agreement to carry out a project for elimination of rocket
fuel component stocks in Armenia.
The OSCE estimates that 872 tons of rocket fuel components remain
in Armenia and are stored in unstable conditions. These type of
stocks, found in other states of the former Soviet Union, as well as
in Armenia, are often kept in inadequate containers that present
considerable environmental risk in addition to the inherent security
risk presented by the rocket fuel components.
Nearly 75 percent of the budget to carry out the project is
provided by the US government. The method of neutralizing the rocket
fuel stocks chosen by the OSCE will result in the added positive
by-product of a liquid fertilizer for use by Armenia’s farmers. The
U.S. contribution toward implementation of this project will total
well over one million U.S. dollars.