ArmenPress
Feb 24 2005
NATO OFFICIAL WELCOMES ARMENIA’S WILLINGNESS TO BOOST RELATIONS WITH
ALLIANCE
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS: A senior NATO official said
today in Yerevan that the Alliance was satisfied with the start of
developing the Individual Partnership Program with Armenia and
welcomed Armenia’s willingness to boost its relations with NATO.
Robert Simons, NATO’s Secretary General’s special representative
for the South Caucasus and Central Asia, who arrived here for a short
fact-finding visit told a news conference after meeting with
President Kocharian and other top-official Armenian leaders that he
briefed the Armenian leadership on February 22 NATO summit details as
well as NATO-Russia relations.
He said the Individual Partnership Program should specify what
Armenia wants from its cooperation with NATO which in turn would help
the Alliance to decide what it can do to help it meet these goals.
He said a NATO liaison officer Romualdas Razuks will be assigned a
key role in developing various aspects of assistance to Armenia.
The NATO official said a team of experts will visit Armenia in a
month to provide technical assistance to Armenian Defense Ministry to
elaborate the Individual Partnership Program. He added there was no
specific time frame about when Armenia has to submit the document.
He thanked the Armenian government for supporting fight against
international terrorism and sending peace-keeping troops to Kosovo
and Iraq.
Robert Simons said another focus of his talks with Armenian
leadership was on Nagorno Karabagh conflict regulation, saying NATO
is interested in its peaceful end.
“NATO does not intend to have any role in the talks over this
problem,” he said expressing hope that the talks sponsored by the
OSCE Minsk Group would help the sides to reach a compromise peace
deal.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress