Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The military officials of Azerbaijan and the UK discussed cooperation in the field of defense, training, education, collaboration within peace-keeping operations, as well as regional security issues in Baku.

At a meeting with Azerbaijan`s Minister of Defense Zakir Hasanov on March 9, Director for International Policy of the Ministry of Defense of the UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Nick Gurr said that the UK is interested in strengthening military ties with Azerbaijan.

A wide exchange of views on military education, in particular participation of representatives of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in the "Military English Courses" has been held at the meeting, the main topic of which was a discussion of the regular staff negotiations between the Defense Ministries of the two countries.

Informing the UK delegation about the situation in the region, Hasanov stressed that Armenia's unconstructive position in the negotiations in connection with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict poses a serious threat to international and regional peace and security.

Nick Gurr, for his part, hailed Azerbaijan's participation in the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.

The peacekeeping contingent of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces has been serving in Afghanistan since November 20, 2002. Currently, 90 servicemen, 2 medical officers and 2 sappers of Azerbaijani Armed Forces are participating in a mission in Afghanistan.

Gurr emphasized that the UK recognizes and supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan. He added that his country is a supporter of the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the norms and principles of international law.

They also discussed prospects for military and military-technical cooperation, regional, maritime, energy security, as well as joint struggle against terrorism.

Following the talks, the Defense Ministries of the two countries signed a military cooperation plan for 2017-2018, Azertac reported.

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

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