Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The International Conference "NATO 2016 Warsaw Summit: opportunities and expectations" kicked off in Baku on March 7.

The event, jointly organized by the Human Rights Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (ANAS) and NATO Contact Point Embassy in Azerbaijan, the Romanian diplomatic mission, aimed at discussing the perspectives of cooperation between North Atlantic Alliance and partner countries, especially NATO-Azerbaijan relations in the light of NATO 2016 Warsaw Summit to be held on July 8-9.

Addressing the event, Romanian Ambassador to Baku Daniel Cristian Ciobanu stressed that Azerbaijan is NATO’s major partner.

The ambassador said this conference is another proof of the importance, which Romania attaches to its relations with Azerbaijan, as well as strengthening ties between NATO and Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan participates in NATO’s programs on Afghanistan and plays an important role in Europe’s energy security,” Ciobanu added.

Azerbaijan is a very important and highly valued partner of the North-Atlantic Alliance. Relations between NATO and Azerbaijan are successfully developing. The two sides actively cooperate on democratic, institutional and defense reforms, and have developed practical cooperation in many other areas.

Romania strongly supports the strengthening and deepening of NATO-Azerbaijan partnership.

Elmar Huseynov, senior advisor of foreign relations department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, in turn, said that such events have particular importance for the strengthening of cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan.

He emphasized that after the launch of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, transportation capabilities of NATO in terms of projects related to Afghanistan will increase.

Head of the NATO Liaison Office, William Lahue emphasized that Azerbaijan participates in many programs of NATO and cooperates with the alliance more actively than other partners.

Azerbaijan not only participates in a number of programs, but also always seeks new opportunities within NATO, according to Lahue.

He went on noting that NATO is working on a number of programs in which not only Azerbaijan, but also other countries of the region can also participate.

“Partnership in the region can be assessed as strong and stable,” Lahues said, adding that the organization also supports Georgia which seeks to join the alliance.

In her remarks, director of the Human Rights Institute, MP Ayten Mustafayev spoke of importance of the conference, hailed the cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan.

The event then heard a speech from the head of the International Security Department at the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Gaya Mammadov, on "NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation".

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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