ARMENIA SEEKS TO MAINTAIN COOPERATION WITH NATO – PREMIER
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
May 22, 2006 Monday 02:00 PM EST
The development of cooperation with NATO should be considered within
Armenia’s policy to European integration, Prime Minister Andranik
Margaryan said.
In his meeting with NATO Special Representative for the Caucasus and
Central Asia Robert Simmons on Monday, the Armenian prime minister
said, “Cooperation with the Alliance is one of the most important
components of Armenia’s multi-level security system.”
He attaches significance to the expansion of the Armenian-NATO
political dialogue and the defence reform. In his words, these reforms
will be carried out consistently to the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,
security in the region and the normalisation of Armenian-Turkish
relations.
“By maintaining cooperation with NATO Armenia never opposes different
security systems and pursues its policy to meet mutual interests,”
Margaryan said.
“Armenia continues its support for NATO’s efforts aimed at developing
constructive interaction between the states of the South Caucasus
and regional cooperation,” he stressed.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan said cooperation with
NATO and the participation in NATO’s Partnership for Peace Programme
is one of the components of Armenia’s security system. The diplomat
stressed that it is important to expand a political dialogue with
NATO and carry out the defence reform, in particular in working out
a national security concept.
“Armenia does not intend to join NATO,” Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan said at the end of April. At the same time, the president
stressed, “Under, the Individual Partnership Programme Armenia is
actively deepening its interaction with the Alliance as a key European
security organisation. Armenia’s Euro-Atlantic ambitions are weighty,
realistic and are positively interpreted by European structures. They
do not create problems in relations with Russia.”
Kocharyan pointed out that Armenia “states its position identically
in Moscow, Brussels and Washington.”
Simmons said NATO lauds the expansion of Euro-Atlantic cooperation.
The Alliance does not consider such cooperation rivalry with other
security system, he added.
Armenia’s Individual Partnership Programme has become a step forward
and meets Armenia’s interests. It also helps carry out defence reform
and strengthen democracy, Simmons stressed.
He said it is important to broadly inform the Armenian public about
NATO’s activity. The NATO official expressed satisfaction with
Armenia’s efforts aimed at implementing its Individual Partnership
Programme. The Alliance seeks the successful implementation of this
document due NATO’s bigger interest in the situation in the South
Caucasian region.