Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan's State Border Service and NATO discussed the development of relations between, as well as Individual Partnership Program of NATO.

Chief of the State Border Service, Lieutenant General Elchin Guliyev met President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Hugh Bayley on June 19.

The sides stressed the importance of reforms carried out to strengthen the security of Azerbaijan`s state borders.

They noted the fact that 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands had been under the Armenian occupation and that these areas are used for criminal activities was a major threat to the border security.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

NATO PA President Bailey visited Azerbaijan to participate at the 86th Rose Roth seminar of the NATO PA, which took place in Baku on June 16-18.

NATO and Azerbaijan are actively cooperating on democratic, institutional, and military reforms, and have practical cooperation in various areas.

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

Azerbaijan is planning to achieve Euro-Atlantic standards and get closer to Euro-Atlantic institutions. In this regard, pressing ahead with reforms in the security sector and establishing several democratic institutions are the key elements of the NATO-Azerbaijan cooperation.