On November 6, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received a NATO delegation in Baku.

The delegation includes Permanent Representatives of Turkiye, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Portugal and Spain to NATO, as well as Deputy Permanent Representatives of the United States and France to the bloc.

The meeting discussed Azerbaijan's cooperation with NATO and the role of this cooperation in regional development, as well as the country's achievements in the alliance's peacekeeping operations. President Ilham Aliyev informed the guests that the Azerbaijani army is being brought into line with the standards of the North Atlantic Alliance and is closely cooperating with the Turkish army in this context. He also stated that Azerbaijan has achieved its main goal by liberating the occupied territories and is now continuing to modernize the army.

Azerbaijan's relations with NATO have a history of more than thirty years and are developing on the basis of mutual respect, security interests and the desire for peace and stability. The foundation for this cooperation was laid on May 4, 1994 by Heydar Aliyev with the signing of the Partnership for Peace framework document. Azerbaijan has become one of the first CIS countries to establish cooperation with the alliance. This was an important step in strengthening the republic's international position and allowed it to participate more actively in Euro-Atlantic processes and peacekeeping missions.

Despite the fact that Azerbaijan does not seek membership in the alliance, cooperation with NATO remains an important component of the country's foreign policy. During the meeting in Baku, it was emphasized that Azerbaijan is a valuable partner of NATO and has certain merits by participating in Operation Resolute Support in Afghanistan.

Operation Resolute Support, the mission of NATO and its allies in Afghanistan, began on January 1, 2015 and lasted until August 31, 2021. Azerbaijan joined the operation among 39 other countries. At the first stage, our contingent consisted of 94 military personnel, and since January 2018, in order to increase the contribution to the mission, it has been increased to 120. Azerbaijani servicemen guarded the Kabul International Airport and also held positions in the relevant headquarters. When the United States decided to curtail the operation, all foreign troops left Afghanistan. Only Turkish and Azerbaijani soldiers remained to cope with the chaos. Our peacekeepers helped in the evacuation of foreign citizens, UN staff and other international organizations, rescued children, and tried to regulate the difficult situation at the Kabul airport when thousands of Afghans besieged planes trying to escape from the rule of the Taliban. The Azerbaijani military carried out their mission, as the foreign media wrote in those days, with dignity, impartiality and at the highest level.

It is no coincidence that upon completion of the mission in their homeland, the peacekeepers were presented with high military awards.

Azerbaijan has contributed to the NATO mission in Afghanistan not only with its military contingent. Throughout the years of the mission, our country has served as a multimodal logistics route, providing transit opportunities for the transportation of goods and military personnel. This route has become an important transit hub for the delivery of goods and the rotation of NATO troops heading to and returning from Afghanistan.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, launched in 2017, was also used by NATO member countries for transportation to and from Afghanistan. This railway has made an important contribution to the success of the Resolute Support mission. But at one time, the United States, we recall, was against the implementation of this project for the reason that it bypassed Armenia. Subsequently, the BTK became the main link of the multimodal Lapis Lazuli route and provided safe transportation to Afghanistan to NATO countries.

It is noteworthy that after the end of the operation in Afghanistan, the former White House administration immediately unfrozen the 907th amendment prohibiting assistance to Azerbaijan. Responding to a question from the Al Arabiya TV channel, President Ilham Aliyev said: "Why is that? Because they needed us in Afghanistan. They needed our sky, they needed our sea. They needed a railroad. We provided very important support to American logistics and transportation. As soon as Biden escaped from Afghanistan, they imposed sanctions on us again. How can you be so ungrateful?!"

The addressees of these statements, I think, have heard them. The current US administration, represented by Donald Trump, has done everything to restore relations with Azerbaijan. Despite the fact that our country, as we have already noted, shows no interest in joining the bloc, the organization itself understands the importance of Azerbaijan in various aspects. Azerbaijan's cooperation with NATO covers a wide range of areas, from military and defense planning to civil initiatives. There is an ongoing dialogue and exchange of views on the security of the South Caucasus, the fight against terrorism, cyber and energy security. The latter is of particular importance, since Azerbaijan, being located at the intersection of key transport and energy routes, plays an important role in ensuring the energy security of Europe, and therefore of the NATO space.

Baku's unwillingness to deviate from the policy of non-alignment does not create any obstacles in its cooperation with the North Atlantic bloc. The country maintains a strategic balance in its foreign policy, maintaining relations with both NATO and CSTO countries. This equidistance allows Baku to become a comfortable platform for political dialogue between different poles.

It should be recalled that Baku has repeatedly become a meeting place for representatives of the leadership of NATO and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

In February 2017, Chief of the General Staff of the US Armed Forces Joe Dunford met with his Russian counterpart Valery Gerasimov in Baku. This was the first meeting in this format. In September of the same year, General Peter Pavel, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, arrived in Baku to meet with Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. In April 2018, Gerasimov held talks at the Baku site with the Commander-in-Chief of the NATO Joint Armed Forces in Europe, Curtis Scaparotti. And in June 2019, Gerasimov also met with the new Commander-in-Chief of the NATO Joint Armed Forces in Europe, Todd Walters.

Azerbaijan has served as a neutral platform for NATO and Russia to build dialogue and discuss pressing issues.

It is possible that in the future Baku may again serve as a negotiating platform for opposing world forces. Azerbaijan knows the value of war and peace better than many.