ARMENIAN MINISTER DISCUSSES TRANSPARENCY IN DEFENCE REFORMS

ArmInfo News Agency (in Russian)
July 31 2008
Armenia

Yerevan, 31 July: Armenian Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan received
experts from Great Britain, the USA and Bulgaria today [31 July
08]. Experts of the Centre for Civil-Military Relations (the USA),
and experts of the defence ministries of Great Britain and Bulgaria,
headed by the centre’s expert [?Anonius Bernards], were included in the
group, which has been on a working visit to Yerevan since 28 July. The
military attaches of the US and German embassies, (?Robert Webster)
and (?Peer Schwaan), were also in the expert group.

During the meeting, the minister thanked his foreign colleagues for
their valuable observations, adding that those will be efficiently
used in the strategic revision of defence, especially while assessing
the security environment, the press secretary of the Armenian defence
ministry, Col Seyran Shahsuvaryan, told the Arminfo news agency.

The minister said that the implementation of this process is dictated
by the change in the regional security environment, and it is
necessary to carry out defence reforms in this light in order to have
armed forces capable of defence. At the end of the meeting, the sides
stressed the necessity for concurrent revision of the defence strategy
taking into account transparency of the planned actions, including
[those] for the international community. This will allow determining
potential risks and threats and will establish an atmosphere of trust
to smooth over contradictions, settle conflicts and strengthen the
atmosphere of regional security.