ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
March 9, 2007 Friday

NATO Week in Armenia

The Foreign Ministry of Armenia, jointly with the U.S. Embassy, is
launching a “NATO Week in Armenia”, which is to begin on Monday.
“It does not pursue the aim of our membership in NATO,” Armenian
Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan stated here on Friday. The
week includes “a visit of high-ranking NATO representatives, some
information functions, TV programs, and meetings with journalists”,
he stated.

It is envisaged to arrange a TV bridge with Kosovo to guarantee the
contacts of Armenian servicemen, stationed in that region of former
Yugoslavia, with their relatives at home. A film on the republic’s
relations with NATO will be shown on the principal TV channels of the
republic.

Director of the NATO Information Centre in Armenia and Head of the
“Armenian Centre of Trans-Atlantic Initiatives” Ara Tatevosyan
reported that another public organisation, namely the “Atlantic
Association of Armenia”, would arrange “An Information March of
Young People”. A microbus, decorated with NATO symbols will visit
different regions of the republic to inform the population on the
goals of that alliance.

In addition to information functions and publication of different
materials, The NATO Information Centre is planning to launch some
education programs, too. Lectures on the alliance’s activities will
be delivered to cadets of the Military Institute of the Armenian
Defence Ministry. Agreement was reached on NATO’s contacts with the
International Relations Department of Yerevan State University.

The “Armenian Centre of Atlantic Initiatives” is cooperating with
the NATO Information Centres in Moscow and Kiev. This organisation is
in charge of the Yerevan NATO Information Centre and is cooperating
with the government of Armenia, which is paying rent for the Centre’s
building.

Armenia is not pursuing the purpose of joining the North Atlantic
Alliance, Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan stated here on
Friday. “The key principles of our relations with that organisation
include mutual supplementation of our foreign policies and
cooperation,” he noted. “Cooperation with NATO is important for our
republic, especially with a view to reforming and modernising the
national army,” he stated. Kirakosyan noted that Armenia’s
cooperation with NATO was “a component part of the multi-structural
system of the republic’s security”.