ARMENIAN MINISTERS MEET WITH DE HOOP SCHEFFER

Interfax
May 21 2009
Russia

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandian and Defense Minister
Seiran Ohanian had a meeting in Brussels with NATO Secretary General
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.

The ministers and De Hoop Scheffer discussed "Armenia-NATO cooperation
under the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) and the Partnership
for Peace program," the ministry told Interfax.

IPAPs are open to countries seeking closer relations with NATO and
capable of building closer ties with the alliance.

Nalbandian and Ohanian attended a meeting of the North Atlantic
Council in Brussels on Wednesday.

The Council credited Armenia with having made good progress in
implementing its IPAP and expressed support for Armenian moves to
improve Armenian-Turkish relations.

Nalbandian briefed the Council on Armenia’s foreign policy priorities,
on efforts to bridge rifts between Armenia and Turkey and on work
being done to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Armenian
ministry said.

Ohanian spoke about Armenia’s current security and defense reforms.