President receives NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan received NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, who has arrived in Armenia to attend a series of events referred to as the NATO Week. Greeting the guest, the RA President highlighted the importance of the events held on the margins of the NATO Week, traditionally held in Armenia, from the perspective of raising public awareness of Armenia-NATO relations.

President Sargsyan noted with satisfaction that Armenia’s cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance is developing smoothly and thanked the Organization for the assistance provided to Armenia. The President availed himself of the opportunity to convey congratulations and best wishes to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the extension of his term of office.

The interlocutors evoked with warmth their previous meetings held respectively in 2011, when Rose Gottemoeller was Assistant Secretary of State and, after that, on February 27, 2017 at the meeting with Secretary General Stoltenberg at the NATO Headquarters. In addition to Armenia-NATO relations, the sides touched upon Armenia’s foreign and security policies, regional developments and, in that context, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process.

The NATO Deputy Secretary General asked President Sargsyan about the process of transition to a new governance system following the constitutional amendments in Armenia. Rose Gottemoeller thanked Armenia for continued support and active involvement in international peacekeeping operations, which is seen as a significant contribution to international peace and security.

Pleased with the progress in the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), the NATO Deputy Secretary General noted that four programs have so far been successfully implemented with Armenia. She advised that the fifth Armenia-NATO cooperation program for 2017-2019 has already been approved.