Azernews.Az

The next round of US-Azerbaijan military consultations will be held in Baku April 14-17, US Ambassador Anne Derse told the press Friday.
The issues to be tabled include US assistance to the defense reform in Azerbaijan and support for the implementation of the second stage of the NATO Individual Partnership Plan.
The ambassador called for international cooperation to avert what she called a threat posed by Iran.
"We believe there are threats posed to the U.S., Europe and Russia by Iran. We believe that by working together we can create a system to ward off these threats on the regional level."
Iran is suspected by the West of seeking nuclear weapons.
With regard to US plans to station radar facilities in Europe, she said it was a process that would take months.
"We are therefore holding consultations both with Russia and NATO. Our proposal on the Gabala radar came to the fore in this context. I would like to cite two details in this respect. First, the U.S. is intent on positively resolving this issue. Second, since the facility belongs to Azerbaijan, any process involving it would have to take place in coordination with Azerbaijan."
The early warning radar equipment, leased by Russia for $7m a year till 2012, allows to track down air space for a distance of 6,000 km.
Last summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that the United States jointly use the radar in Azerbaijan's western Gabala district instead of a system based in Central Europe. The U.S. and Russia held discussions on the issue on different levels but the two superpowers have not reached a specific agreement so far.
US President George Bush has expressed willingness to accept some of Moscow's proposals but suggested he would not abandon the core US plan, which envisions basing missile defense elements in NATO members Czech Republic and Poland.
"We believe these sites could be included as part of a wider threat monitoring system that could lead to an unprecedented level of strategic cooperation between Russia and the NATO alliance," Bush told a NATO summit in the Romanian capital Bucharest last week. "The missile defense capabilities we are developing are not designed to defend against Russia - just as the new NATO we are building is not designed to defend against Russia."
Bush said he deemed Azerbaijan as a suitable location for missile defense facilities. "Putin suggested to me that Azerbaijan's radar systems are very beneficial. I think this would benefit not only America and NATO but also Russia and Azerbaijan."
Azerbaijan backs Russia's proposal on joint use of the Gabala facility. But analysts say the mammoth Soviet-era facility does not comply with up-to-date standards on a number of indicators.