NATO supports first of all the countries which were behind the iron curtain, as these countries most of all need cooperation and protection, the UK Ambassador to Armenia Katherine Leach said at a conference "NATO and the New Developments in the World" on Friday. She added that the cooperation and the support should be bilateral.
Katherine Leach said that NATO was created to maintain peace and stability in the world during the cold war. She stressed that NATO focuses on collective defense, collective security, as well as on overcoming the crises and fighting the terrorism.
She said that NATO's operation in Afghanistan showed that not everything in the Alliance's actions was right. During the NATO Summit in Chicago in May 2012, the Alliance will try to distribute the obligations among the member countries, as the cooperation should not be static. She added that NATO is also ready to cooperate with Russia, however, it will naturally long.
The ambassador also pointed out NATO's willingness to cooperate with its southern neighbors, whose support is necessary, particularly, during the conflicts in the region. After the so-called "Arab spring", much has changed, she said. Libya's example demonstrated how effectively NATO can work. She added that the North Atlantic Alliance is also going to cooperate with Qatar, the UAE and Australia, which may become reliable partners of NATO in many spheres.
