March 10, 2001 - 20:07 AMT
ARMENIAN PM: ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN MILITARY COOPERATION IS NOT A THREAT TO NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES
YEREVAN, March 10. /Mediamax/. Prime Minister of Armenia Andranik Margarian received on March 9 the chairman of NATO military committee, Admiral Guido Venturoni.
During the meeting Premier Margarian noted the importance of development of Armenia's bilateral relations with NATO member-states. He highly commended the unbiased position of this organization in the matter of Karabakh conflict settlement and its cooperation with the countries of the region. "Being a member of the Council of Europe, Armenia strives to cooperate with all the European structures. From this viewpoint, Armenia's cooperation with NATO has a big potential", premier said. He believes that any cooperation should promote the establishment of peace.
Andranik Margarian noted that Armenian-Russian military relations are not a threat to adjacent countries and they do not hinder Armenia's relations with NATO member-states. According to him, Armenian-Russian military cooperation doesn't exclude Armenia's cooperation with other security structures.
In his turn, Guido Venturoni noted that NATO gives much importance to Armenia's participation in "Partnership for Peace" program and welcomes the steps aimed at the development of bilateral relations. Mr. Venturoni highly commended Armenia's efforts to establish peacekeeping forces and promised to render assistance to this initiative. --0--