November 17, 2016

Jamie Shea: “Armenia and NATO make great tango partners”

 

NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General Jamie Shea stated today in Yerevan that “Armenia and NATO make great tango partners”.

Jamie Shea arrived in Armenia to participate in the events within the “NATO Week” and met with journalists at Information Center on NATO in Yerevan.

Alliance official said that cooperation between Armenia and NATO is built upon mutual interests, in accordance with “two-way street” principle.

“As they say, one needs a partner to dance tango. So, we can definitely claim that Armenia and NATO make great tango partners,” Jamie Shea said.

Touching upon the perspective of development of Armenian-NATO relations, Jamie Shea expressed an opinion that within the frames of the next 2-year round of Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), special attention may be paid to directions, such as cyber security, and  interoperability.

“Several Armenian units have been certified and comply with highest NATO standards, which is a great achievement”, Jamie Shea said. He remarked that regional projects may become another direction of cooperation, “especially taking into consideration Armenia-Georgia good relations”.

NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General also highlighted cooperation with Armenia in military education sector, emphasizing that more and more Armenian servicemen get education and training in member-states of the alliance. Jamie Shea expressed satisfaction with establishing Centre for Building Integrity within the at Ministry of Defense of Armenia, calling it yet another positive result of cooperation with NATO.

Jamie Shea welcomed the efforts of the Armenian government in increasing the number of women in Armenian Armed Forced and said that NATO offered its Armenian partners to elaborate National Action Plan in this sphere.