In recent years, Armenia has achieved measured progress in implementing border security and combating trafficking in persons, drugs, and WMD materials, reads the annual Country Reports on Terrorism 2009 issued by the U.S. State Department on August 5.

“Armenia’s counterterrorism partnership with the United States included granting blanket over-flight clearance and ad hoc landing rights to U.S. military aircraft, deployment of a peacekeeping contingent to Iraq, and participation in bilateral assistance programs that strengthened the government’s capacity to monitor illicit financial flows and confront trafficking in hazardous substances,” the report says.

However, the State Department mentions that Armenia’s widespread corruption continued to hamper full implementation and enforcement of laws that would improve Armenia’s counterterrorism posture and response capability.

“In 2008, Armenia revised its law on combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The revision significantly expanded the range of reporting entities required to report suspicious transactions to the Financial Monitoring Center (FMC), a specialized intelligence unit within the Central Bank that is responsible for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. In 2009, as a result of the work of the FMC, Armenia recorded its first successful money laundering prosecution,” the report reads.