“It isn’t necessary that NATO and Armenia cooperate in the military sector” (video)
“NATO countries have large economic resources and can make big investments here. It isn’t necessary that NATO and Armenia cooperate in the military sector,” says Jerzy Marek Nowakowski, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to the Republic of Armenia during the discussion convened by the Armenia Institute of International and Security Affairs. He thinks that there are many factors uniting Armenian and this organization- Armenia’s values and mentality, which are in line with the NATO’s values, “The RA Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan has recently stated that you have a large number of weapons, which don’t correspond to the western standards and we can see that we can develop the relations in this sector.” Since 2006 four projects of Armenia-NATO operations have been implemented. The last one ends in 2016 and there will be negotiations for the fifth project of joint operations. Gagik Hovhannisyan, representative of the NATO Department of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says, “Armenian has already disclosed all the four projects of Armenia-NATO operations, political dialogue is primary for us. Armenia actively participates in NATO peacekeeping missions and implements deep defensive reforms.” Steffen Elgersma, representative of the NATO’s South Caucasus Division is also in Armenia during these days. He has had meetings with the RA Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense; the project of individual operations was in the spotlight of the discussions. Mr Elgersma is satisfied with the relations of two sides, “Taking into consideration the size of Armenia and the current challenges, the cooperation with your country is impressive. Mr Ohanyan said that Armenia is willing to have joint mobile training teams.” NATO Summit will take place in Warsaw on July 8. As Mr Elgersma says the agenda will be composed of two directions- the East and the West. “Of course, Russia remains the most important issue in the East; our relations have deteriorated during the recent months. There are opinions, that that country plays destabilizing role in the issue of Ukraine, and though it is a member of the Council of Europe, continues enlarging the military budget, but we continue the dialogue with that country. NATO aims at strengthening its presence in the West.”
