James Appathurai: Azerbaijan is a committed and credible partner of NATO

How do you assess the current state of Azerbaijan-NATO relations?

Azerbaijan is a committed and credible partner of NATO, and we continue to look for opportunities to broaden our cooperation. NATO and Azerbaijan have developed a substantial partnership with the successive Individual Partnership Action Plans (IPAP). We highly appreciate your country’s substantial contribution to NATO operations over the past years, including the recently increased troop contribution to ISAF. We also value the readiness of Azerbaijan to make its airspace available for aircraft bringing NATO troops to and from Afghanistan. Beyond the support to operations, our cooperation focuses on defense reform and various aspects of broader security sector reform. Thanks to the IPAP process we also have an ongoing dialogue on regional security issues and various political issues.

What is Azerbaijan’s place in the new NATO Strategic Concept?

Our new Strategic Concept, adopted in Lisbon last month, emphasizes the importance for NATO to actively engage with its partners and defines these partnerships as one of the three essential core tasks of the Alliance. As the new Secretary General’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia, I see that as a clear mandate to work hard towards vibrant partnerships with each of the countries from these two regions. At the same time, the partnerships cannot be considered as distinct and separate from NATO’s other activities, such as crisis management. The Strategic Concept advocates in this area the need for an approach to crisis management that makes for coherence between the civilian and military contributions. Azerbaijan’s offer for civilian assistance to Afghanistan is very relevant in this context. Finally, the Strategic Concept highlights a number of emerging security challenges, in particular cyber defense and energy security. The defense against terrorism also falls within this category. Based on mutual respect and interests, NATO is ready to engage on each of these issues with Azerbaijan.

How do you view the further NATO policy regarding security issues in the South Caucasus region and especially regarding the conflicts in the region after approval of the new NATO Strategic Concept?

The Strategic Concept does not imply a shift in NATO’s policy towards the regional conflicts in the South Caucasus. NATO is concerned about recent violent incidents. However, we do not seek a direct involvement. Instead, NATO supports the efforts of the Minsk Group and we noted the recent statement of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan at Astana, in which both restated the commitment of both sides to seek a peaceful settlement.

How do you assess the fulfillment of responsibilities taken by Azerbaijan within the framework of the second stage of IPAP?

Not only the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but a broad range of Ministries has engaged substantially with NATO to implement the various chapters of our Individual Partnership Action Plan. This Individual Partnership Action Plan is designed to support and accelerate various forms of reform. As you will understand it takes time to reform government structures, so we should be careful about unrealistic expectations. I believe the practical cooperation is in most cases developing well. I understand that there is for instance good progress in the development of the Strategic Defense Review and the modernization of military education. There are other areas where we would like to see more tangible progress, such as – to give only one example - the introduction of civilian personnel at higher levels within the Ministry of Defense. We also encourage Azerbaijan to enhance transparency and combat corruption in order to improve good governance.

Was the next stage of IPAP already agreed by Azerbaijan and NATO? And what does the next two-year plan envisage?

We are currently in the process of finalizing the third NATO-Azerbaijan Individual Partnership Action Plan. The objectives contained in this document do not constitute a fundamental departure from the previous plan. However, the ambitions have been updated and in some areas raised. Key areas continue to be: our dialogue on security issues; good governance and democratic control over the armed forces; training and certification of troops for international operations; defense reform; as well as the cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Troops, the Ministry of Civil Emergencies and the State Border Service.

Do Azerbaijani Armed Forces meet the NATO standards? How is the process to meet NATO standards going on? Are there any problems toward that issue?

The Azerbaijani Armed forces have worked hard towards enhanced interoperability with NATO forces. It is reorganizing its units according to the same structures, it is working hard on enhancing English-language skills, and it is stepping up cooperation in the area of standardization. Assistance by NATO is aimed at the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense, for instance in the development of the Strategic Defense Review. Only those units that have been declared as possible contributions to the NATO operation in Afghanistan have been assessed and certified as meeting specific NATO standards prior to their deployment to Afghanistan. In addition, a limited number of units, notably the mobile battalion, will be subject to assessments in the coming period. At this stage, it would be too early to declare whether these units already meet fully or partially these standards, as the evaluations at various levels are to be carried out in the years to come.

When are you planning the first visit to South Caucasus and particularly to Azerbaijan?

No dates have been fixed yet, but I hope to visit all countries of the region early in 2011. As a Canadian, I don’t mind the cold weather.


/APA/