ARMENIA WILL NOT BID FOR NATO, EU MEMBERSHIP – PRESIDENT

MosNews, Russia
April 24 2006

Armenia is not going to join NATO and the European Union, Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan said Monday in an interview with local
newspaper Golos Armenii.

“Membership of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
and the high level of military-technical cooperation with Russia are
enough to ensure the country’s security,” Kocharyan said. Therefore,
Armenia will not join NATO. CSTO member states include Russia, Belarus,
Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Kocharyan said that the “whole legal basis of Armenian-Russian
relations in the military-technical sphere has been ratified by the
republic’s parliament.”

“Within the framework of the individual partnership program, Armenia
is actively broadening cooperation with the North Atlantic alliance as
a key European security organization,” Kocharyan said. The president
said, “at present, Armenia is preparing for closer cooperation with
the European Union within the framework of the New Neighborhood Policy,
but we do not aim to join the European Union.”