Robert Simmons: Armenia and Azerbaijan exceed the quota of the armed forces

ArmRadio.am
17.03.2007 12:34

`We have stated many times that Armenia exceeds the quota envisaged by
the agreement on regular armed forces of Europe. However, Azerbaijan
has also exceeded the quota,’ Special Representative of the NATO
Secretary General for South Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons
declared at a press conference in Baku.

In his words, every year NATO exchanges information on the quantity of
armaments, and this year it was mentioned that Azerbaijan made
purchases that exceed the share envisaged by the agreement. `I think
this question should be solved through negotiations,’ Special
Representative of the NATO Secretary General noted. Speaking about the
necessity of appointing a civilian to the position of the Defense
Minister, Robert Simmons said NATO has never made such recommendation,
APA reports. `We always aspire to draw attention to the fact that when
preparing and executing of the budget of the Defense Ministry civilian
oversight should be guaranteed, and the question should be a
transparent one for the Parliament. We think the Ministry of Defense
must be more civilian. There should be experts on technical questions
and civilian persons working in the Ministry. It does not mean,
however, that we demand the Defense Minister to be a civilian,’ he
declared.