Azernews.Az

Deputy US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Adam Sterling has said much has been done over the past decade as part of the annual security dialog between the United States and Azerbaijan.

Sterling told journalists on Friday that these joint efforts seek to identify common interests.

"We have regular engagements of the militaries, we are strengthening the ability of our armed forces to train and work together in multilateral settings, most notably in NATO's ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] in Afghanistan," Sterling said.

He said these activities have strengthened the U.S.-Azerbaijan partnership.

"As I said, one of the main challenges that we have worked on together over the past decade is Afghanistan. Of course, our forces serve together in Afghanistan. But beyond the service of our troops together, Azerbaijan is also providing a key transit corridor for NATO for [cargo] transit to Afghanistan," Sterling said.

NATO and Azerbaijan are closely cooperating on democratic, institutional and military reforms, as well as in other areas. The Azerbaijan-NATO cooperation program is set out in the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP).

Azerbaijan seeks to achieve Euro-Atlantic standards and draw closer to Euro-Atlantic institutions. In pursuit of this goal, support for security reform and creation of democratic institutions are the key elements of cooperation between NATO and Azerbaijan.

Besides the reforms, another important area of cooperation is support in the conduct of NATO-led operations. Azerbaijan sent peacekeepers for ISAF in Afghanistan. In the past, the country also strongly supported the operations in Kosovo.