ARMENIA-NATO COOPERATION MARKED AS MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL BY NATO DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL

AZG Armenian Daily
13/03/2007

Armenia and World Integration

Armenia is moving in the right direction and NATO pins big hopes on
the country’s development, today said NATO Deputy Secretary General
for Public Diplomacy Jean Fournet during a lecture in Yerevan State
University.

Referring to Armenia-NATO cooperation, Fournet said that it was
mutually beneficial but none can solve all problems overnight. Reforms
are a long process. The main thing is creativity and non-standard
thinking.

During his lecture about the nowadays challenges and the ways
to surpass them Fournet pointed out that the key challenge to the
modern age of information is globalization. This phenomenon has both
positive and negative aspects. "Today we are living in an unpredictable
world. In the times of the cold war everything was much more definite,"
Fournet said. He noted that globalization provokes competition in all
spheres and consequent fight for brains and the phenomenon of brain
drain. Fournet said that today special attention should be given
to ecology. Many countries are on the verge of ecological disaster
mostly because of ineffective consumption of natural resources. NATO
has long been dealing with ecological problems. In fact, it was one of
the first to realize the need to protect the environment. Among other
challenges are pandemic, emigration, trafficking, mass destruction
weapons and terrorism.

Only by joint efforts will the world countries be able to oppose those
threats. For this purpose they should organize various research rejects
and actively exchange knowledge and experience. They should form not
only military contingents but also peace-making battalions. The
key principles of NATO are cooperation, religious tolerance,
complimentarily and progressiveness.