NATO Wise Men to develop new strategic planAugust 4, 2009 - 14:12 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A former Turkish diplomat will become a member of the "Wise Men" committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that will be assigned with preparing a new strategic plan for the alliance.Retired ambassador Umit Pamir, who had also been Turkey's permanent representative to NATO in the past, will be one of the 12 wise men who will give shape to NATO's new "Strategic Concept". The Wise Men Group will be headed by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, while former head of Royal Dutch Shell Jeroen van der Veer will act as the vice-chairman of the committee. Apart from Pamir, Britain's former Defense Minister Geoff Hoon, head of the French National Library Bruno Racine, Italian ambassador Giancarlo Aragona, Canadian ambassador Marie Gervais-Vidricaire, Spanish ambassador Fernando Perpina-Robert Peyra, German ambassador Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz, Latvian ambassador Aivis Ronis, Greek ambassador Yannis-Alexis Zepos and Polish professor Adam Daniel Rotfeld will be the other members of the group. NATO SG Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the existing Strategic Concept of the alliance should be updated in a way that would include new threats such as asymmetric terrorism, Turkish Press reported. Top stories President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. Partner news | International cybercrime ringleaders arrested in Armenia, Ukraine Europol, Europe's crime agency, has arrested four ringleaders of several cybercrime networks that used botnets. Armenia skips CSTO Defense Ministers meeting A meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization countries began in Almaty. Armenia, U.S. customs authorities to boost assistance with new deal The government has approved an agreement with the U.S. government on mutual assistance between the customs authorities. Armenia, Russia agree on repairing railway destroyed in floods Yerevan and Moscow have agreed to repair a flood-stricken railway in northern Armenia. |