Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 3
By Seba Aghayeva – Trend:
Hungary intends to strengthen a political dialogue and contribute to the improvement of NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation, İmre Laszloczki, Hungarian ambassador to Azerbaijan, said in an interview with Trend November 3.
"The Hungarian embassy in Baku will operate as a NATO Liaison Office for two years - from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018,” he said. “Our embassy will take over these responsibilities from the Romanian embassy in Baku, which carried out this task in the last few years.”
“The responsibilities will be officially transferred in the Hungarian embassy in Baku in late 2016 with the participation of representatives of Azerbaijan, Hungary, Romania and many other organizations involved in this work,” he said.
The diplomat outlined the objectives and activity of the Hungarian embassy in Baku as a NATO Liaison Office.
“The objectives are to strengthen a political dialogue and contribute to the improvement of NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation; inform the NATO on the current processes in Azerbaijan in relation to NATO and thus enlighten the NATO members about Azerbaijan; shape a public opinion in Azerbaijan regarding the NATO policy, values and standards,” he said.
The diplomat added that the main responsibility and tasks are to ensure comprehensive support in organizing mutual visits of officials arriving in Azerbaijan from the NATO International Staff and visits of officials from Azerbaijan to NATO headquarters; organize events with the participation of NATO officials, as well as with the participation of the ambassadors of NATO member-states for the mutual exchange of information and opinions on such topics as the internal situation in Azerbaijan, regional development, Azerbaijan-NATO relations, etc.
The mission’s promising activity also includes the work in the scientific field and cooperation with civil society organizations.
In particular, it is planned to hold public events and international meetings with cooperation of NATO and Azerbaijani organizations, representing civil society, on the topics of common interest; establish mutually beneficial cooperation with Azerbaijani universities to clarify the information on NATO for students and departments; facilitate making visits to NATO headquarters for MPs, government representatives, non-governmental organizations and journalists.
The mission also plans to maintain close relations with the media.
Azerbaijan and NATO cooperate within the Partnership for Peace program. Earlier, the NATO adopted a document of the fourth stage of the Individual Action Plan within the partnership for 2015-2016.
The meetings are held in Baku and Brussels to analyze the fulfillment of the objectives of the partnership as part of this plan and the Planning and Review Process (PARP) together with the NATO International Staff.
Around 27 of 41 tasks of the partnership adopted by Azerbaijan within PARP refer to the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan. Some adopted objectives of the partnership have been fulfilled. The work is underway to fulfill other long-term objectives of the partnership.