NATO admission not on agenda - official
Azerbaijan is not seeking admission to NATO at this point, Defense
Minister Safar Abiyev said Tuesday.
The remarks came at a news conference following a meeting of the CIS Defense Ministers Council in the Kazakh capital Astana.
Abiyev made it clear that Azerbaijan had no plans to enter NATO but said cooperation with the military alliance would be continued.
First Deputy Prime Minister Yagub Eyyubov said last week that the country intended to enter the organization in the future. But the Foreign Ministry spokesman Khazar Ibrahim followed up by saying that Azerbaijan had no such intention.
Ibrahim indicated that not membership, but only integration was on the agenda. He said the country was working to bring its armed forces into compliance with the alliance's standards.
Azerbaijan is cooperating with NATO within the Individual Partnership Plan (IPAP), which envisions improvements in the military field, as well as political and economic reforms. The second stage of the program will start in early 2008.
The remarks came at a news conference following a meeting of the CIS Defense Ministers Council in the Kazakh capital Astana.
Abiyev made it clear that Azerbaijan had no plans to enter NATO but said cooperation with the military alliance would be continued.
First Deputy Prime Minister Yagub Eyyubov said last week that the country intended to enter the organization in the future. But the Foreign Ministry spokesman Khazar Ibrahim followed up by saying that Azerbaijan had no such intention.
Ibrahim indicated that not membership, but only integration was on the agenda. He said the country was working to bring its armed forces into compliance with the alliance's standards.
Azerbaijan is cooperating with NATO within the Individual Partnership Plan (IPAP), which envisions improvements in the military field, as well as political and economic reforms. The second stage of the program will start in early 2008.
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