Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.24
By Jamila Jafarova - Trend:
NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai will visit Azerbaijan in the coming months.
"As to my next visit to Baku, there are no specific dates yet," he said. "I hope however to be able to come to Baku before the summer and review as usual the development of NATO-Azerbaijan relations and discuss regional security developments with my interlocutors."
Talking about the plans for bilateral relations, Appathurai said that in December the sides agreed a new NATO-Azerbaijan Individual Partnership Action Plan for 2015 and 2016 with a broad range of objectives.
"Our focus should now be on turning these words into deeds," NATO special representative added.
The key objectives over this period should be enhanced transparency and accountability within the defense sector, interoperability, education and training and cooperation in the area of energy security, according to Appathurai.
Besides the new NATO-Azerbaijan Individual Partnership Action Plan, he highlighted a new initiative which was adopted by NATO at the Wales Summit last September: the "Interoperability Platform".
NATO special representative said that Azerbaijan was invited along with 23 other partners to be part of this new platform.
"'Interoperability' is about our ability to act together to achieve common objectives, be it through exercises, operations, or otherwise," he added.
Meetings of the "Interoperability Platform" have started both in civilian and military formats, according to NATO special representative.
Appathurai said these meetings allow Azerbaijan to work closely together with NATO and other interested partners on core NATO issues of common interest.
