NATO General Carlos Branco: Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation is fruitful

"We have all the tools and opportunities to expand and deepen our cooperation with Azerbaijan under the new concept of NATO," Carlos said.

He said at the moment NATO and Azerbaijan carry out several joint projects.  "We hope to expand cooperation in the implementation of existing and new projects with Azerbaijan," Carlos said.

He noted that NATO appreciates the presence of the Azerbaijani peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan.

The prospects of cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO are discussed during the winter session of NATO school from Jan. 30-Feb. 6 in Baku.

The foundation for cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO was laid through the signing of a program-document within the framework of the Partnership for Peace on May 4, 1994. Azerbaijan was one of the 27 OSCE member countries to join the program.

In April 1996, an official document envisaging concrete directions in the cooperation was signed within the framework of the Partnership for Peace. Now, Azerbaijan is fulfilling about 50 tasks in conformity with the program.

On Aug. 3, 2005, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the "Approval of the Action Plan on Individual Partnership between the Azerbaijani Republic and NATO."

Now cooperation is carried out within the second phase of the Individual Partnership Action Plan between Azerbaijan and NATO.


/Trend/