Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani servicemen will participate in an exercise of the German intelligence.

According to the program of bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Germany, the Azerbaijani servicemen will take part as observers in the exercises of the Reconnaissance Battalion of the Ground Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany on April 22-26, the spokesman for the Defense Ministry, Colonel Eldar Sabiroglu told Trend news agency.

The exercises will be held in Hanover on the basis of the individual partnership program within the framework of the NATO Partnership for Peace program.

Also, under the program, Azerbaijan and the U.S. are commencing joint military exercises on Monday. In accordance with the plan of cooperation between the two countries, the exercises will take place in Romania on April 15-24.

NATO and Azerbaijan actively cooperate on democratic, institutional and defense reforms, and have developed cooperation in many other areas. Azerbaijan's Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) lays out the program of cooperation between Azerbaijan and NATO.

Azerbaijan was among the first former Soviet Union countries to join the NATO Partnership for Peace (PFP) program. In May 1994, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev signed the PFP Framework Document on the accession to PFP during his official visit to the NATO HQ.

Since 1996, Azerbaijan has been annually adopting Individual Partnership Programme (IPP), which includes all joint activities and events to be attended by military men and civilian representatives. Annually expanding the scope of its individual partnership program, Azerbaijan has participated in NATO/PFP activities and events.

Azerbaijan is seeking to achieve Euro-Atlantic standards and to draw closer to Euro-Atlantic institutions. Thus, support to security sector reform and democratic institution building are key elements of NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation.

Another important area of cooperation is the country's support for NATO-led operations. Azerbaijan contributes troops to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan since 2002. In the past, it also actively supported the operation in Kosovo.