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CELESTE WALLANDER: "I WAIT FOR FURTHER WORK WITH ARMENIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS"
Noyan Tapan
www.nt.am
27.06.2011
The answer of Celeste Wallander, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense, to the question of RA MD "Armed Forces" TV program:
Question.-We are very much interested in your estimation of the
Strategic Defense Review process in Armenia.How would you evaluate
Armenia's participation in activities for sustaining international
stability. As you know, Armenia has recently increased its peacekeeping
military contingent in Afghanistan and assumed new tasks undertaking
the new mission of Armenian mentors to instruct the National Army
officers in Afghanistan.
Answer - Thank you very much, thank you for your kind words. It's
really a pressure to be back in Armenia. We have had discussions today
with the minister of defense covering the full range of issues and
areas of cooperation which is now an extensive list. I commented to
the minister that each time we meet we have more and more to discuss.
And in particular I think it is important to understand the broad
range of areas of cooperation now.
We work with the ministry of defense of Armenia on its modernization
and its objectives, those are clearly stated in the strategic defense
review, which is a comprehensive document which was worked out within
the whole government of Armenia, and so it's a reflection of national
priorities.
And we are very privileged to be able to support the Ministry of
Defense as it now moves towards implementing those priorities in
professional development of officer corps and in particular NCO. So
this is something exciting for us- a new area to work with the
ministry of defense on that area. And also build on previous areas
of success. You mentioned in particular the new commitments of five
officers in addition to the tripling of Armenia's contribution to ISAF,
of particular importance is the mentor and liaison mission that is
now going to be fulfilled by 5 officers who, we are proud to be able
to say, have attended American military education courses.
So we feel particularly excited to know that they are able to use that
experience in that work with American military now in their mission
in Afghanistan , which of course you know is of very high priority
for the US. Pr. Obama made very clear that the US is very committed
and continues be committed to providing stability and security by
supporting the development of the Afghan security forces . So we are
very grateful to the Ministry of Defense for making that commitment
and contributing to that mission. More broadly also we have been
working with the MD in developing the institutional development of
Armenia's capability to contribute international missions through
its peacekeeping brigade. So a lot of our cooperation activities
which total in value for this year about a little over 12 million US
dollars in their area of defense and security cooperation, a lot of
those activities focus on training and planning, but also providing
equipment, and working with the Armenian peace keeping brigade so
that they are able to be ready to contribute not just to the ISAF
missions but other missions as well. It is very important for people
to remember, that Armenians are also serving in Kosovo as part to
KFOR mission, we tend to forget about it, because it's so successful,
but I think it's important for everyone to understand that the reason
it is successful is because so many partners have been willing to
be there and contribute to this post-conflict situation. So we are
grateful for that support as well. So we have many things to talk
about , we have many things to be working on in the coming year. We
talked a little bit also today about that planning, but I am very
grateful for such a broad area of cooperation and we look forward to
continuing to work with the MD.
From: A. Papazian
Noyan Tapan
www.nt.am
27.06.2011
The answer of Celeste Wallander, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense, to the question of RA MD "Armed Forces" TV program:
Question.-We are very much interested in your estimation of the
Strategic Defense Review process in Armenia.How would you evaluate
Armenia's participation in activities for sustaining international
stability. As you know, Armenia has recently increased its peacekeeping
military contingent in Afghanistan and assumed new tasks undertaking
the new mission of Armenian mentors to instruct the National Army
officers in Afghanistan.
Answer - Thank you very much, thank you for your kind words. It's
really a pressure to be back in Armenia. We have had discussions today
with the minister of defense covering the full range of issues and
areas of cooperation which is now an extensive list. I commented to
the minister that each time we meet we have more and more to discuss.
And in particular I think it is important to understand the broad
range of areas of cooperation now.
We work with the ministry of defense of Armenia on its modernization
and its objectives, those are clearly stated in the strategic defense
review, which is a comprehensive document which was worked out within
the whole government of Armenia, and so it's a reflection of national
priorities.
And we are very privileged to be able to support the Ministry of
Defense as it now moves towards implementing those priorities in
professional development of officer corps and in particular NCO. So
this is something exciting for us- a new area to work with the
ministry of defense on that area. And also build on previous areas
of success. You mentioned in particular the new commitments of five
officers in addition to the tripling of Armenia's contribution to ISAF,
of particular importance is the mentor and liaison mission that is
now going to be fulfilled by 5 officers who, we are proud to be able
to say, have attended American military education courses.
So we feel particularly excited to know that they are able to use that
experience in that work with American military now in their mission
in Afghanistan , which of course you know is of very high priority
for the US. Pr. Obama made very clear that the US is very committed
and continues be committed to providing stability and security by
supporting the development of the Afghan security forces . So we are
very grateful to the Ministry of Defense for making that commitment
and contributing to that mission. More broadly also we have been
working with the MD in developing the institutional development of
Armenia's capability to contribute international missions through
its peacekeeping brigade. So a lot of our cooperation activities
which total in value for this year about a little over 12 million US
dollars in their area of defense and security cooperation, a lot of
those activities focus on training and planning, but also providing
equipment, and working with the Armenian peace keeping brigade so
that they are able to be ready to contribute not just to the ISAF
missions but other missions as well. It is very important for people
to remember, that Armenians are also serving in Kosovo as part to
KFOR mission, we tend to forget about it, because it's so successful,
but I think it's important for everyone to understand that the reason
it is successful is because so many partners have been willing to
be there and contribute to this post-conflict situation. So we are
grateful for that support as well. So we have many things to talk
about , we have many things to be working on in the coming year. We
talked a little bit also today about that planning, but I am very
grateful for such a broad area of cooperation and we look forward to
continuing to work with the MD.
From: A. Papazian