Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend, E. Mehdiyev /
Baku hopes that a NATO summit in Chicago will express its attitude towards Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. Azerbaijani Defence Ministry's International Military Cooperation Department head, Major-General Ramiz Najafov made this statement at a conference 'Chicago Summit - new opportunities for Euro-Atlantic partnership', in Baku.
According to Najafov, decisions to be taken at the Summit will give impetus to further cooperation with the Alliance. Azerbaijan hopes that by remaining committed to previous decisions on the territorial integrity of the states, the summit will reflect the issue of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity in its decisions, Najafov said.
According to Najafov, the main directions of cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO are training and education, bringing the country's Armed Forces into line with NATO standards. At the same time Najafov stressed that the military airfields and vessels of Azerbaijani Naval Forces already meet these requirements. Reforms in defence and security are continuing within the cooperation.
"Certain results have been achieved in bringing Azerbaijani Armed Forces into line with NATO standards. These include technical improvement, compliance of military training programmes and improvement of English language skills," he said.
Addressing the conference, Romanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Daniel Cristian Ciobanu said the NATO summit in Chicago will give new impetus to boosting cooperation among members and Alliance partners. He also stressed that Afghanistan is grateful to Azerbaijan for its assistance to NATO in cargo transit to this country.
NATO and Azerbaijan are actively cooperating in the field of democratic, institutional and military reforms, as well as conducting practical cooperation in many areas. The programme of cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO is set out in the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan seeks to achieve the Euro-Atlantic norms and standards and move closer to Euro-Atlantic institutions. In this regard, support for security sector reform and creation of the institution of democracy are the key elements of cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan.
In addition to reforms, another important area of cooperation is its support to Azerbaijan in the conduct of NATO-led operations. Currently, Azerbaijan sent peacekeepers to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. In the past, the country has also actively supported operations in Kosovo.