Armenia is a good example of the opportunities of polycentric world, Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan has said.
“We have been hearing from day one of our independence that Armenia should make a geopolitical choice in compliance with the “either … or” principle. We have always been guided by the principle that the county’s stance on certain processes, especially cooperation with other countries, should be based on deep mutual respect, tender attitude towards common history, and the value system the policy is being built around,” Minister Sargsyan said, addressing the Moscoe Security Conference. He said it first of all applies to security issues.
The Minister said Armenia is taking serious efforts to make it clear to its partners and especially strategic partner Russia that our policy is being built on the juncture of interests of regional and global players, not the manipulation of their confrontation.
“There will always be “well-wishers” trying to present Armenia to the West as a “puppet state under Russia’s leadership,” at the same time presenting the country to Russia as a “defector trying to sit on two chairs,” Vigen Sargsyan said.
“Fortunately, Armenia’s consistent and open policy of developing a system of relations with all centers of “polycentric world” is yielding results,” he said.
“As a CSTO founding country, Armenia sees the organization and the bilateral cooperation with Russia as a main external element of ensuring its security. We are proud to have consistently advocated the strengthening of OSCE potential. We’ll keep doing our best to increase the capacities of the CSTO rapid reaction forces and formation of its peacekeeping potential,” he said.
He noted that “simultaneously, Armenia is successfully cooperating with the North-Atlantic Alliance within the framework of the Individual Partnership Action Plan.
“Aside from participating in UN peacekeeping operations in Libya and Mali, Armenia participates in NATO missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo.
“Being a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia has signed a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with the European Union. Meanwhile, we have friendly relations with China, India, Iran, Arab states and Latin America. We see no controversy here, as we are confident that this is how relation should look like in a polycentric world,” Vigen Sargsyan said.
The Minister emphasized maximum openness and reliability in relations are the main rule for Armenia.
