ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER TO VISIT ESTONIA
Baltic News Service
September 7, 2005
Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan is scheduled to arrive
in Estonia today on what will be the first ever visit by a defense
minister of Armenia here.
In the course of the visit a cooperation memorandum between the
two countries will be signed, spokespeople for the Estonian Defense
Ministry said.
Sargsyan and his Estonian counterpart, Jaak Joeruut, are to discuss
developments related to the NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan
(IPAP) for Armenia and opportunities for bilateral defense cooperation
in the future.
Also to be dealt with are the reforms of defense forces under way
in the two countries and Armenia’s and Estonia’s participation in
international peacekeeping operations. Other topics include regional
cooperation, spokespeople for the Estonian ministry said.
On Thursday morning, Sargsyan will meet with Estonia’s Chief of Staff
Alar Laneman, after which he will proceed to the southern city of
Tartu to visit the Baltic Defense College and meet its chief Algis
Vaiceliunas.
The memorandum of understanding dealing with defense cooperation
between Estonia and Armenia will be signed at the Estonian Defense
Ministry Friday morning, to be followed by a meeting with the chairman
of the Estonian parliament’s defense committee, Toivo Tootsen.
The Armenian minister will also visit the Armenian church in Tallinn
to meet with representatives of Estonia’s ethnic Armenian community.
He will leave Estonia Friday afternoon.
In 2005, Estonia is the chairman of the forum of countries providing
defense assistance to Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Sargsyan and Latvian Defense Minister Einars Repse signed an
agreement about defense cooperation between Armenia and Latvia in
Riga on Tuesday.