ARMENIAN FM: FORMATION OF NATO INFORMATION CENTRE IN ARMENIA NECESSITY

Arka News Agency, Armenia
March 13 2007

YEREVAN, March 12. /ARKA/. The formation of the NATO information
centre in Armenia is a necessity, said Armenia’s Foreign Minister
Vardan Oskanian.

"The matter is that on the post soviet territory the opinion formed
about NATO does not fully correspond to the truth, taking into account
the years of the "cold war" and stereotypes, this is not surprising,
but NATO is not the organization that existed during the USSR,"
he said.

Oskanian said that the formation of the NATO information centre in
the previous USSR countries is a necessity, particularly, in Armenia
with its complementary policy.

"Today Armenia is a CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization)
member and at the same time it actively cooperates with NATO under
IPAP. This cannot but arouse bewilderment of our citizens which will
drift away when receiving information at first hand," he said.

Armenia implements the cooperation with NATO under the Individual
Partnership Action Plan Armenia-NATO (IPAP).

Armenia has been a CSTO member since it was established in 1992.

Russia, Byelorussia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
are also members of the Organization.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress