YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Government of the United States of America are planning to sign the Agreement between the Department of Defense of the United States of America and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia Concerning Cooperation in the Area of Prevention of Proliferation of Technology, Pathogens and Expertise that Could Be Used in the Development of Biological Weapons within the framework of the Biological Threat Reduction Program. The Program seeks partners in the global fight against biological weapons proliferation. Through the Program the Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations and the U.S. Department of Defense will work to improve Armenia's overall biosafety and biosecurity systems and procedures, consolidate and secure dangerous pathogen collections and research, and enhance capacity to detect, diagnose, report and respond to outbreaks. Work on the Biological Threat Reduction Program will be carried out under the Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Armenia Concerning Cooperation in the Area of Counterproliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction that was signed in 2000 and the bilateral Biological Threat Reduction Program legal framework agreement that the governments of the United States and the Republic of Armenia will sign soon. According to the report of the U.S. Embassy in RA, the Biological Threat Reduction Program already works in Ukraine, Georgia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

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