Armenian Defense Minister Ohanyan invites his German counterpart to Armenia

Within the framework of bilateral military cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the Federal Republic of Germany and upon the invitation of the Federal Minister of Defense Dr. Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, from the July 21-22 a delegation headed by the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia paid a first-ever official visit in Germany, according to a release issued by Armenia’s Defense Ministry.

Minister Ohanyan started his visit with the meeting with the Armenian community in Cologne and had official talks in the Bonn headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Defense; together with Dr zu Guttenberg visited General-Hans-Graf-Sponeck-Barracks in Germersheim, where the Armenian peacekeeping contingent was undertaking pre-deployment training for the mission in Afghanistan. Mr Ohanyan held discussions with the members of Bundestag (Federal Parliament) and the Governor of Germersheim Dr Fritz Brechtel.

On the 21st of July DM Ohanyan visited the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Cologne where he met with the representatives of Armenian community in Germany. Armenian delegation was greeted by the Archbishop Garegin Bekchyan and parishioners. Mr. Ohanyan presented to the Armenian community the history of the formation of the Armenian Army, talked about the challenges Armenia is facing and the accomplishments that Armenian Armed Forces have had during war and peace periods. Members of the community presented to the minister the history of the Armenian community in Germany, asked questions about the security and political situation in Armenia and shared with him the challenges that they have as a community.

On the 22nd of July, the Armenian delegation headed to the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn. After the official honoring ceremony, the delegations proceeded to a meeting where the negotiations took place between the Armenian Delegation, headed by the DM Mr Ohanyan, and German delegation headed by the Christian Schmidt, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Ministry of Defense. The main questions on the agenda were the matters of bilateral defense cooperation, cooperation in the framework of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, cooperation with the framework of the European Union and the regional security challenges.

The sides valued the high level of defense cooperation between the two defense agencies, emphasized the importance that the sides attached to the joint mission in Afghanistan and agreed upon exploring possibilities to enlarge the bilateral cooperation plan, which is already very inclusive. The main fields of cooperation between the two militaries are military education, military medicine, military justice, military administration and the development of peacekeeping and command and control capabilities.

After constructive discussions Armenian delegation flew to the Germersheim, where the delegation was met by the Federal Minister of Defense Dr. Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg. Together, the ministers visited General-Hans-Graf-Sponeck-Barracks training centre, where the second Armenian peacekeeping contingent was being trained for their upcoming mission in Afghanistan.

During the visit, delegations were briefed about the training centre and the pre-deployment training program of Armenian peacekeepers. They toured around the training facilities, observing Armenian and Germans during training. After that each minister met with his troops. During the meeting with the Armenian contingent, Minister Ohanyan shared his views on Armenian participation in international peacekeeping missions and discussed about the conditions of their service. After that the ministers gave a press joint conference to a national and international media representatives, where both ministers conveyed their positive impressions of the constructive talks, of the high standard of training facilities and positive assessment of the development of bilateral relations. In the end Minister Ohanyan invited Minister zu Guttenberg to visit Armenia with on an official visit.