NATO “very encouraged” by shift in Armenia's foreign policy Special representative says

Javier Colomina, the special representative of the organization's Secretary General for the South Caucasus and Central Asia, has said that NATO is very encouraged by Armenia's shift towards the Alliance in its foreign and defence policy.

Colomina, who recently paid another visit to Yerevan, the seventh in the last two years, made the remarks in an interview with Armenian media, Caliber.Az reports.

The official noted that the Alliance wants more rapprochement with Armenia, saying that in recent years the country has decided politically and practically to intensify cooperation with NATO.

“I know it is a decision that is difficult to implement and will probably take a long time, but, of course, we encourage our partners to get closer to us, and that is what Armenia is doing,” Colomina said.

He recalled that Armenia has decided to increase the number of its troops in the NATO peacekeeping force (KFOR) in Kosovo by more than 50. Now the sides are working on a new individually tailored partnership program (ITPP) "quite ambitious goals."

According to Colomina, the program could be approved in the coming weeks. The possibility of training the military is also being discussed.

"But after the conversations I had in Yerevan, my impression is that the Armenians are willing to continue that path and to increase the cooperation, and we will be helping Armenia doing that," the special envoy assured.

NATO also supports the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, believing that Türkiye is ready to make progress on this issue.

“Well, for us Türkiye is a very important ally, as you know, it is the only ally that has borders in the region and therefore is a key actor in the region. We have a very frank conversation with Türkiye on every topic and of course, we talk about the concourses as well. Türkiye knows that we are supportive of the normalization of relations between Armenia and Türkiye. I think Türkiye is willing to make progress in this direction,” Colomina said.

As it has been reported, the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Organization in the South Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina visited Yerevan on January 19. He held talks, in particular, with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Defense Minister Suren Papikyan.