December 8, 2006 - 13:53 AMT
NATO Can Speed up Solution of Conflicts in South Caucasus
The Armenia-NATO cooperation is one of the priorities of Armenia's foreign policy, Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakossian said in Yerevan. In his words, the launching of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), as well as the participation in the Armenia-EU Action Plan accords country's security interests. Alongside he stressed, that South Caucasus has a strategic importance for the Alliance, and the engagement of all three states in the IPAP will have positive impact on the relationships between the countries. "It concerns the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement and normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations. In both cases NATO can play a positive role," the Deputy FM said.

In his words, the Alliance does not press on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict sides. "But it is not ruled out that as a result of cooperation of South Caucasian states with NATO the conflicting sides can reach settlement sooner than NATO's coming to the region," Arman Kirakossian said.