President Aliyev attending NATO summit in Wales
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev is attending the NATO summit that started in the city of Newport, Wales on September 4.
Delegates from the NATO member states and ISAF partner countries, the UN and other international organizations are participating in the event. Officials of the UN and European Union also joined the two-day summit.
The next stage of the cooperation with Australia, Georgia, Jordan, Finland and Sweden will also be discussed at the summit.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron welcomed President Ilham Aliyev and other heads of state and government.
The agenda of the summit includes crisis in Ukraine, Afghanistan's future, tackling new threats, strengthening support for the Armed Forces, strengthening partnerships, Iraq and Syria crisis.
Addressing the Summit's meeting on Afghanistan, Rasmussen greeted heads of state and government. He said the meeting is one of the most important in NATO's history.
Then the participants paid tribute to servicemen, who died in Afghanistan.
Cameron, for his part, expressed satisfaction with holding of the event in Wales. "NATO is an important alliance for our future," he said. David Cameron thanked the countries for joining the ISAF program and contributing to security in Afghanistan. He noted that NATO successfully ends its mission in Afghanistan and takes pride in the results of formation of an army in this country.
President Aliyev also addressed the summit.
The previous summit was held in Chicago in 2012.
On the sidelines of the NATO summit, President Aliyev met with French President Francois Hollande in Wales.
The sides expressed their satisfaction with the successful development of bilateral relations between the countries. The parties noted that there were good prospects for cooperation between Azerbaijan and France in various fields.
During the conversation, the heads of state exchanged views on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.