Armenian, French Army Chiefs Discuss Intensifying Military Cooperation Between the Two Countries

YEREVAN — Lieutenant-General Eduard Asryan, the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff, and French General Pierre Schill held talks on Tuesday on the sidelines of a conference of European army chiefs held in Germany. The Defense Ministry in Yerevan said in a statement.

It said they discussed a set of issues related to further development of cooperation in experience exchange and training of personnel.

“Understandings were reached to further develop cooperation,” the ministry added in the statement. It did not shed light on those understandings.

France pledged last fall to sell weapons and provide other military assistance to Armenia part of a broader deepening of bilateral relations cemented by the existence of an influential Armenian community in France. Those include sophisticated radars, short-range air-defense systems, armored personnel carriers and night-vision equipment.

Some of that hardware was delivered by the time French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu visited Yerevan in February this year. Lecornu announced during the trip that a French military adviser specializing in air defense will be deployed in Armenia to help it neutralize “possible strikes by potential aggressors.” He emphasized the defensive character of the French-Armenian military cooperation condemned by Azerbaijan.

Paris is also due to train Armenian military personnel. The French military will reportedly hold three “mountain combat training courses” for them this year.