ARMENIA SUCCESSFULLY STARTS IMPLEMENTATION OF IPAP, ROBERT SIMMONS SAYS
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
May 23 2006
YEREVAN, MAY 23, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The May 23 joint press
conference of Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian and
Special Representative of NATO Secretary General of South Caucasian
Issues Robert Simmons was dedicated to issues of cooperation between
Armenia and NATO within the framework of the Individual Partnership
Actions Plan (IPAP) and the Partnership for Peace program. Both of the
speakers expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between
Armenian and NATO within the framework of IPAP and Partnership for
Peace. According to A.Kirakosian, IPAP can be considered as one of the
components of Armenia’s integration to European structures. Robert
Simmons in his turn declared that Armenia successfully started the
implementation of IPAP. According to him, cooperation within the
framework of IPAP is long-lasting and it cannot be finished until
2015. The program accentuates the reform in the sphere of defence. In
particular, it is planned to direct NATO’s resources to the improvement
of the work of the frontier and other services.
In R.Simmons’ opinion, the reforming of the Armenian army will be
beneficial both for Armenia itself and for NATO, which is interested
in partners that will take part in peacekeeping missions: “We are for
having more partners. We have mutual interests.” He pointed to the
wish and interest of NATO in development of relations of partnership
with Armenia. According to him, the Armenian government also treats
development of these relations positively: “The relations between
NATO and Armenia do not contradict our relations with the other
countries. NATO does not make Armenia join the alliance and does not
want Armenia to break off its good relations with other countries. We
have no problems in the respect of your interrelations with Russia,”
Robert Simmons declared. As for the difference in the position of NATO
in the issue of presence of the Russian military bases in the territory
of Georgia and Armenia, the Special Representative of NATO Secretary
General declared: “The issue about the bases should be decided by
the receiving side: Armenia is not against presence of the Russian
base in its territory, quite a different thing is Georgia, which is
against this.” In connection with the Nagorno Karabakh problem Robert
Simmons mentioned that NATO supports the OSCE Minsk Group’s efforts
in the process of settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and
hopes that the sides of the conflict will reach a mutually acceptable
solution. As for the possibility of quartering NATO troops in the
Karabakh conflict zone, Robert Simmons declared that the sides of
the conflict first should reach an agreement and only then decide
what troops should be quartered in the conflict zone.