NATO special rep arrives in Azerbaijan

Special Representative of NATO Secretary-General for the South Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina has arrived in Azerbaijan on a visit.

He wrote about this on his Twitter account, Caliber.Az reports.

As part of the visit, the NATO official met Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev.

The sides discussed bilateral cooperation, as well as Azerbaijani-Armenian normalisation.

Having received Colomina on May 23, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed with him the situation on the border with Azerbaijan.

According to the Armenian government, the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the demarcation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan and ensuring the security and stability of the border and the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh were also mentioned during the meeting between Pashinyan and Colomina.

Relations with NATO started in 1992 when Azerbaijan joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. This forum for dialogue was succeeded in 1997 by the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, which brings together all Allies and partner countries in the Euro-Atlantic area.

Bilateral cooperation began when Azerbaijan joined the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program in 1994. Thanks to regular participation in PfP activities, Azerbaijan has been able to contribute actively to Euro-Atlantic security by supporting NATO-led peace-support operations.

Azerbaijan’s participation in the PfP Planning and Review Process (PARP) since 1997 has allowed NATO and individual Allies to assist Azerbaijan in developing selected units to improve interoperability with those of the allies.

NATO and Azerbaijan started work on a jointly agreed Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) in 2008 to integrate NATO standards into the teaching methodologies and curricula of the country’s Professional Military Education (PME) institutions.

In 2018, Azerbaijan asked NATO to also involve the Military High School, a pre-commissioning school, in DEEP.

Good meetings in Baku with FM @Bayramov_Jeyhun and Assistant to the President @HikmetHajiyevz. Discussed #NATO-🇦🇿 bilateral cooperation, 🇦🇿’ role in energy security, and status of peace process after recent talks. #NATO supports the normalisation of relations between 🇦🇲&🇦🇿 pic.twitter.com/HQSFHhXiec

— Javier Colomina (@JavierColominaP) May 26, 2023