Armenia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, during UN Security Council meeting on Dec. 15 in New York (Photo: mfa.am)

NEW YORK— “Armenia attaches great importance to issues of nuclear security on domestic and international levels by working out corresponding internal legislation, ratifying and applying international legal agreements,” said Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Zohrab Mnatsakanyan at the UN Security Council meeting. The meeting on Thursday, which included over seventy member states, discussed the stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by non-State actors.

According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry’s press service, Mnatsakanyan relayed that the Armenian government in 2015 reinforced the security of the nuclear facilities of the country’s Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. He added that Armenia “fully implements its international obligations under the UN Security Council Resolution 1540,” and that the country’s National Action Plan for 2015-2020 outlines the necessary steps to implement national measures and coordination of activities.

Mnatsakanyan highlighted that Armenia is also actively involved in initiatives such as the U.S. State Department’s Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism and the Proliferation Security Initiative.

“We are actively involved in a number of programs aimed at preventing the proliferation of weapons. The government of Armenia is continuously working with its international partners at bilateral and multilateral levels to further enhance its national capabilities in countering nuclear smuggling,” Mnatsakanyan concluded.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution during the meeting calling on all countries “to establish national controls to prevent proliferation of such weapons as well as their means of delivery” and for “all UN Member States to ensure the full implementation of its resolution 1540 (2004) on non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”