Armenia says no plans to join NATO, but ready for cooperation

"We are carefully watching the South Caucasus countries, and by having a dialogue with NATO we are trying to achieve overall security in the region," the minister, Vardan Oskanyan, said at the opening ceremony of the NATO information center in the capital Yerevane, the Interfax news agency reported.

However, he said, Armenia is not going to join the alliance. "I would like to stress once again that this issue is not on the agenda of Armenia's foreign policy," he said.

Oskanyan said Armenia is cooperating very actively with the alliance under the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP).

"The IPAP is quite a serious document, and we focus on it in working with NATO," he said.

Armenia and NATO agreed on the IPAP in December 2005. The nation's Caucasus neighbors Azerbaijan and Georgia have also developed IPAPs with the alliance. Xinhua