Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, I would like to join the others in welcoming Croatia to this EAPC Ministerial.

Mr. Chairman,

Armenia's strategy toward building a strong partnership with NATO stems from our fundamental foreign policy principle of complementarity which we believe is essential for sustainable peace and stability. The complex and multifaceted security picture in and around the Caucasus - a region where divergent commercial and geopolitical interests compete - dictates the need for carefully balanced policies by and towards all the countries in the region.

Therefore, Armenia does not limit its defense and security cooperation to our traditional partners. Greece, a NATO member state, for example, comes second in the scope and extent of its military cooperation with Armenia.

Bilateral security cooperation with other NATO states is developing, too. A recent and very useful example is the US humanitarian initiative for de-mining in the Caucasus, according to which joint training will be provided to field engineers of the Caucasus states.

Mr. Chairman,

As the Armenian public begins to develop an understanding of NATO, and its potential role in our future, the role of individual member states becomes very critical. Armenia expects that all NATO states develop equal relations with all PFP member states and  conduct indiscriminatory policies towards them.

Such moves by individual NATO member states would be very much in line with the Alliance's new strategic concept and with the Partnership's goals of promoting stability, security, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts throughout the Euro-Atlantic area.

Armenia is concerned that the situation and the processes that exist in the region today can endanger the fragile peace and stability of the Caucasus. Therefore, we believe that a Caucasus Stability Pact which will include not only the three core Caucasus states but also the three regional neighbors plus the other powers with clear interests in the region - would transform the region into the place where such interests coexist rather than collide.

Together with this, we view the Partnership as one of the international community's key tools in its multilateral efforts to support peace and stability, which can be tailored to the circumstances and requirements of countries within a particular region.

Currently, our priority areas of cooperation are defense policy and strategy, democratic control of the armed forces, emergency planning, Science for Peace and environmental protection programs. While drawing on our experience of cooperation in these areas as well as training courses at the NATO Defense College and George C. Marshall Center, which have been much appreciated by Armenian civilian and military participants, we are exploring ways and means of preparing ourselves better for a real partnership with NATO.

Mr. Chairman,

In Armenia, we have reasons to believe that the year 2000 will become a landmark year for our partnership with NATO. We look forward to welcoming Secretary General Lord Robertson to Armenia this fall.