CSTO integration doesn’t disturb NATO
Armenia is the brilliant evidence of the fact that a country can be on good terms with the European Union and NATO, and be an active member of the CSTO at the same time.
This is what British Ambassador to Armenia Charles Lonsdale announced during the presentation of the Master's course on "NATO as an Element of the Western Security System" held at the YSU Center for European Studies.
In response to "A1+"'s question of how the trend of the deepening of Armenia's Euro-integration and Armenia-NATO relations corresponds to the fact that Armenia is an active member of the CSTO, Ambassador Lonsdale mentioned: "The European Union and NATO view Armenia as a neighbor and a part of the greater Europe. We welcome Armenia's willingness and its ambition to cooperate with the EU and NATO."
Noting the lack of awareness of NATO and radical stereotypes in Armenian society, Charles Lonsdale emphasized that it is not mandatory for a country moving toward Europe to refuse to cooperate with other countries or organizations.
"In the case of NATO, the cooperation has never been exclusive and won't be. NATO is ready to cooperate with the given country as long as the country is ready to cooperate with NATO," the Ambassador said.
Head of the Department for Arms Control and International Security at the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs Samvel Mkrtchyan noted that integration into one security system can't impede efficient cooperation with another system.
"Armenia's foreign policy is guided by the principle of further inclusion. We are leading negotiations over associative integration with the EU, have multifaceted cooperation with the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization as a partnering country and are also a full-fledged member of the CSTO. There is no contradiction here," the MFA official said.
NATO Week is being held within the framework of the Armenia-NATO Individual Partnership Plan on October 16-21. There will be different events all week long, including lectures, film screenings and meetings. The series of events will end with a working consultation on border security.
