YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–Within the framework of the official visit of the delegation led by Armenian Defense Minister Serge Sarksian–working meetings of the US and Armenian military departmen’s’ expert groups took place in Washington DC–on March 21.
The aim was the specification of certain spheres for cooperation between the defense structures of the two countries.
US Vice-Deputy Secretary of Defense for Eurasia Mira Ricardel and Armenian Deputy Minister of Defense Major-General Artur Aghabekian presided over the working meetings on behalf of the US and Armenian defense departmen’s.
As a result of the working meetings–the parties agreed on concentrating efforts on the realization of three jointly defined goals in the following spheres: professional military training–communication system development–and enlargement of peace-making possibilities.
The sides made out a working schedule for the realization of the joint aims in the three aforementioned spheres. During the meetings–the sides emphasized that US-Armenian cooperation in the defense sphere will continue developing as an important element of cooperation between the US and Armenian governmen’s in the sphere of security. As a result–the co-chairs of the working groups–Ricardel and Aghababian–signed a joint statement "On Armenia-US cooperation in the Defense Sphere".
Defense Minister Sarksian also held a meeting with Vice-Admiral Tom Wilson–the US Intelligency Agency Director–on the same day.