On January 22, Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan received the US delegation led by Deputy Ambassador to Armenia David Allen and Commander of the Kansas National Guard, Major General Michael Venerdi.

The Minister welcomed the attendees and emphasized the effective and targeted bilateral cooperation between Armenia and the United States, which was recently formulated in Washington as a strategic partnership. Arpine Sargsyan noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs occupies a unique place in this document.

The guests were grateful for the warm welcome and noted that this visit would contribute to further cooperation.

Kansas National Guard Commander Michael Venerdi, emphasizing the importance of internal security, noted that the multi-layered cooperation, which has a history of 22 years, is aimed exclusively at serving the interests of the citizens of Armenia and Kansas.

During the meeting, cooperation with the Rescue Service, especially in disaster risk management, was also discussed.

Arpine Sargsyan emphasized the importance of expanding the educational component and training and retraining qualified personnel within the reform framework.

The parties also discussed issues related to seismic hazards, touched upon the general cycle of disaster risk management, and discussed clarifying the actors involved in it.

Issues related to creating a unified operational management center in Armenia, raising public communication and population awareness, and modernizing warning systems were also discussed.

In the end, an agreement was reached to expand the multi-layered cooperation established between Armenia and the state of Kansas.