Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. А.Maharramli, S.Аgayeva / Elmar Mammadyarov, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, discussed prospects for bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO at the headquarters of NATO in Brussels, the Azerbaijani Embassy to Belgium reported on 4 September.
The Azerbaijani representative in NATO reported that the Azerbaijani Minister will meet with Robert Simmons, the special representative of the Secretary General of the Alliance on South Caucasus, as well as with Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Secretary General.
The sides will consider prospects for cooperation within the framework of the program 'Partnership for Peace'.
The second stage of cooperation of Azerbaijan with NATO will cover 2007 and 2009. The first stage of cooperation was held in spring 2007.
Azerbaijan joined NATO's program 'Partnership for Peace' in 1994, and from the beginning of 2002 has been cooperating with NATO on the basis of IPAP. Reforms have been made in the Azerbaijani Armed Forces since 1997.
The Azerbaijani Military Forces render military support to the US and NATO in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The issue of admission of Azerbaijan into NATO has not yet been discussed.
The Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev, said that time and development of the situation would reveal results of these negotiations. Touching upon Azerbaijan joining NATO, the President said it was a bilateral process.