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On February 3, the Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs Koryun Nahapetyan met with NATO Building Integrity Peer Review Programme Team, which was comprised of also the Head of NATO Liaison Office for the Caucasus William Lahue.

Welcoming the guests, Koryun Nahapetyan underlined that during several years the cooperation had been rather effective and constructive within the framework of NATO and NATO Parliamentary Assembly. In his word, currently our country cooperates with NATO in different directions of defense sphere, where the Building Integrity Peer Programme also is of special importance, one of directions of which is the key directions of the RA defense policy, and is permanently at the centre of attention of the Committee led by him.

The Committee Chairman, presenting the possibilities given by the Constitutional Amendments to the guests, has noted that new bases are created for the parliamentary oversight, particularly the upgrading of the control tool kit of the Committee, the rise of the Government accountability and the improvement of the staff capabilities.

Koryun Nahapetyan also touched upon the Committee-civil society and noted that the Committee always works open, involving wide layers of civil society.

Talking about the programme budgeting process, Mr Nahapetyan underlined the consistent work of the Committee led by him and added that the role of the Committee had risen in the budget planning process in the spheres of defense and security.

At the meeting the Committee Chairman also referred to the events being implemented within the framework of Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), also including those aimed at the building integrity in the Armed Forces. Koryun Nahapetyan has underlined that the Committee carries out self-evaluation within NATO IPAP framework every year.

The Committee Chairman has stressed that the Committee is interested in a number of directions of cooperation with NATO Building Integrity Peer Review Programme Team and has submitted concrete recommendations of joint programmes.

The guests presented the goal of their mission, talked about the work being fulfilled in Armenia, highlighting the necessity of implementing joint programmes. Bénédicte Borel, NATO BI Staff Officer, Peer Review Team Leader, highly assessed the fact that building integrity was also one of the agenda themes of NATO Parliamentary Assembly Rose-Roth Seminar organized in Yerevan in June 2015 as a part of defense reforms in the RA. The Peer Team expressed readiness for cooperating with the Committee from now on.