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On March 11, the RA NA Vice President Alen Simonyan and the Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on Defense and Security Andranik Kocharyan met with the NATO PA Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai.

Alen Simonyan has noted that the participation of Armenia in the programme Partnership for Peace is assessed as an important component of the multi-layer security system of our country. He highlighted the participation of Armenia in the peacekeeping actions in Kosovo and Afghanistan, noting that due to cooperation with NATO, Armenia had turned into a country with contribution to the international security.

According to the NA Vice President, from now on Armenia intends to develop its cooperation with the NATO paying special attention to the implementation of the programme Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan , as well as with the participation of the NATO its involvement in the international peacekeeping actions.

Alen Simonyan highlighted the format of the parliamentary cooperation and noted that in 2002 since becoming the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Associate Member the delegation of the RA National Assembly had aspired to actively take part in the works of the organization. He informed that a new delegation had been formed in the parliament, which would actively take part in the sessions of the Assembly, Rose Roth seminars and training programmes.

“The participation of Armenia in the NATO PA programmes will promote stable progress of policy, democratic and systemic reforms in our country,” the Vice President of the parliament said.

According to Alen Simonyan, after the constitutional amendments the oversight role of the parliament has increased towards the activity of the Government, as well as the armed forces, and its evidence is the workshop to be held in the RA NA within the framework of the NATO week.

James Appathurai has noted that this is his first visit after the change of the political environment in Armenia. He has stated that the current parliament has the people’s trust to fight against corruption and foster peace and security. “We are glad that despite the important changes Armenia is resolute to continue its chosen guideline in the issues of peace and security,” the NATO PA Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia said. He noted that Armenia-NATO successful cooperation would continue. James Appathurai emphasized the participation of Armenia’s Armed Forces in the NATO peacekeeping missions.

Touching upon the Nagorno Karabakh problem settlement the NA Vice President reaffirmed the position of the Armenian side of the conflict solution through exclusively peaceful means. Alen Simonyan underlined the most important principles of the establishment of the Artsakh people’s security and status. In this context James Appathurai has noted that the NATO is not involved in the problem settlement, but the conflict solution is important for Armenia and the NATO.

The sides also talked about the mechanisms of the parliamentary oversight and the programmes being designed by the NATO in the near future.