NATO exercise starts in Armenia – agency

Mediamax news agency
14 Jul 06

The Rescuer-2006 exercise of the US European Command started at the
Aviation Institute of the Armenian Defence Ministry today.

Over 300 officers from 11 countries – the USA, Armenia,
Albania, Austria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia,
Romania, Tajikistan and Ukraine – are taking part in the
exercise. Representatives of NATO, the International Committee of
the Red Cross and the National Guard of the US state of Kansas are
also involved in the exercise.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Armenian Defence Minister Serzh
Sarkisyan expressed his confidence that the Rescuer-2006 exercise
would be successful.

Rescuer-2006 is a command-and-staff exercise aimed at expanding
cooperation between partner countries, as well as organizing and
coordinating rescue work in case of natural and man-made disasters.

The exercise will continue until 24 July.