ArmInfo.The delegation of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia led by the Minister Vigen Sargsyan in Vancouver took part in the UN peacekeeping summit. As the press service of the Armenian Defense Ministry told ArmInfo, Sargsyan noted in his speech that Armenia is one of the countries that makes maximum efforts in peacekeeping missions.
"Our country is ready to continue its participation in peacekeeping missions, deeply aware of their importance.In parallel with the provision of peacekeeping contingent for missions in Lebanon, Mali, Kosovo and Afghanistan, Armenia creates a national peacekeeping training center in the republic with the aim of its further accreditation as an international peacekeeping training center, "he noted.
The main theme of the last summit was to increase the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping missions. According to the speakers, the UN member states should take concrete steps in this direction. It was also expressed the mutual opinion that the UN peacekeeping mission is by far the best tool for preventing conflicts in different parts of the world, suppressing mass violence and humanitarian crises, which obliges us to concentrate our efforts to increase the effectiveness of joint actions. Separately, the need to increase the number of women peacekeepers in the UN missions was stressed. It was suggested to bring this figure to 15%. At the meeting, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, who introduced the "Vancouver approaches", which should stop attempts to force children to participate in hostilities.
The Armenian delegation also visited the Ai center (Armenian, ed.), Where Sargsyan met with the Armenian community of Vancouver. The meeting was also attended by the Armenian Ambassador to Canada Levon Martirosyan. Sargsyan talked about the modernization of the Armenian Armed Forces, in particular, the steps being taken to increase the army's combat readiness, acquire new weapons, and improve the safety of combat duty. From Vancouver, the Armenian delegation headed to Montreal.