The ceremony was attended by the ARM Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan, First Deputy Defence Minister Davit Tonoyan, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Armenia John A. Heffern as well as high-ranking servicemen and guests. In his congratulation speech to participants of the training course on the successful completion of the course, Defence Minister noted that the course is an important step for the improvement AND development of the professional skills for the sergeants. Emphasizing the importance of the collaboration with the other countries within the frame of the reforms in the armed forces, Seyran Ohanyan expressed confidence that by recruiting to the staff of professional sergeants of the armed forces, the participants of the course will be more educated, will perform their tasks at a higher level, using their knowledge for the benefit of development of the armed forces. In his speech, the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern emphasized the importance of the active participation of the Armenian Armed Forces in international peacekeeping missions. He also expressed a hope that the knowledge obtained during a one week course with the instruction of the U.S. experts, will support the Armenian servicemen to improve their combat and management capabilities. The training course has been conducted within the frame of the 4 month program of the contract sergeants of the Armenian Armed Forces. 46 servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces, including sergeants from the Peacekeeping brigade of the ARM MoD took the one-week training course, launched on February 24. The training course was conducted by the U.S. Army Security Assistance Training Management Organization and the Kansas Army National Guard instructors.