Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Days of NATO will be held at Azerbaijan's Armed Forces on November 25-29, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported.

Presentations and discussions on the NATO's structure, history of creation, and objectives, policies, strategies, concepts, processes, transformation, and reforms will be held at the event.

The partnership deals, emergency operations, and peace operations of the North Atlantic alliance will also be discussed.

NATO Days is held annually as part of the NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation, with the participation of the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Command Transformation's (SACT) expert group.

Also, NATO expert group will arrive in Azerbaijan on November 18 in connection with opening of NATO Training Center.

NATO and Azerbaijan are actively cooperating on democratic, institutional, and military reforms, as well as on the issue of conducting practical cooperation in various areas.

The cooperation plan between Azerbaijan and the NATO is set out in the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) on Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan aspires to achieve Euro-Atlantic standards and get closer to Euro-Atlantic institutions. In this regard, supporting the security sector reform and establishing democratic institutions are the key elements of the NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation.

Moreover, Azerbaijan is among the eight partner countries that have confirmed their presence in Afghanistan after 2014. Peacekeepers of the country will stay in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops from the country by the end of 2014. However, Azerbaijan will reduce its presence in Afghanistan after 2014.

The Azerbaijani peacekeeping contingent in Afghanistan consists of 90 servicemen. A company and then a battalion of peacekeepers were established as part of the Azerbaijani armed forces in 1997. Azerbaijani peacekeepers are part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

In the past, Azerbaijan also actively supported the operations of the Alliance in Kosovo.