Open news feed Close news feed
A A

TO BE EVALUATED

Official

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany — Armenia is exploring defense reform to develop improved cooperation and interoperability with NATO during a seminar in Yerevan 5 – 7 February.

The Armenian Ministry of Defense, is co-organizing the seminar with the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies at the request of the U.S. European Command’s Office of Defense Cooperation in Yerevan. The Ministry plans to advance its transformation efforts during the event, which is entitled Armenian Defense Reforms I: Seminar on the Civilianization of the Ministry of Defense and Amending the Law on Defense.

This step follows the establishment of Armenia’s Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) in December 2005. In that plan Armenia committed to transforming its armed forces personnel management and civilianizing its Ministry of Defense staff. Parallel to these reforms, Armenia has set a goal to amend its 1997 Law on Defense to support the civilianization and transformation processes. An interim evaluation of Armenia’s progress was conducted in May 2006, and a full evaluation is scheduled for the spring of this year.

The seminar has the following two main objectives:

- For defense experts from several “new” NATO countries to share their countries' defense transformation experience with their Armenian counterparts; and

- To hear the opinions of international and Armenian experts on suggested amendments to Armenia’s 1997 Law on Defense.

Organizers expect about 60 participants at the seminar. In addition to staff members and experts from the Ministry of Defense and General Staff, organizers expect representatives from the National Assembly of Armenia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as other ministries and agencies. Speakers will come from NATO and countries that have already gained NATO membership, such as Estonia, Latvia, and Bulgaria. International defense and legal experts from several NATO countries will also attend.

The Marshall Center is a renowned U.S. Department of Defense and German Ministry of Defense educational institution. More than 5,000 military and civilian officials from more than 50 nations have graduated from resident courses and approximately 15,000 have attended more than 230 conferences discussing European and Central Asian security issues since the center was dedicated in 1993.