Azerbaijan showing no willingness to join NATO - envoy

He said his talks in Baku revealed this reluctance on the part of Azerbaijan once again.

Simmons said, however, NATO has a policy of open doors to anyone wishing to join its ranks. There is not a single country in Europe, the membership of which in NATO would be ruled out, he said.

Simmons recalled that Ukraine and Georgia have already made public their pro-NATO plans and are taking first steps towards becoming members. He indicated, though, that accession to NATO is a long process and for each country it has its own specificity.

As he mentioned the problem of Russia's stance on Georgian and Ukrainian plans, Simmons underlined NATO's readiness to discuss the issue with the Russian side.

Along with this, he reiterated the commonly known position of NATO leaders that only the bloc itself has an exclusive power to decide on whether or not one or another country can get its membership and that no country can veto the right of any other country to join NATO. Itar-Tass