EUCOM and Azerbaijan to continue Work Plan process in April

Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry press service officer Col. Ramiz Malikov told APA that the Work Plan has annually been signed between Azerbaijan and the EUCOM since 1998.

"Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act (Amendment 907) doesn’t allow a long-term work plan and restricts the plan," he added.

Army Col. Alpo Portelli, chief of the European Division, U.S. European Command Directorate of Strategy, Policy and Assessments and Colonel Samandar Mammadov, Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan Chief of Division, Operations and Combat Training Department, discussed issues during the EUCOM-Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan Colonels Working Group meeting Feb. 21-24 in Stuttgart. The three-day working group was the first event designed to bring key Azerbaijani officers from its Ministry of Defense together with key officers from EUCOM and its components to discuss the EUCOM-Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan Work Plan.

The Work Plan defines mutual objectives, implementation plans and assessment tools that serve to more effectively coordinate EUCOM security cooperation efforts with Azerbaijan. The Work Plan process was scheduled to continue in April 2007 with the Bilateral Cooperation and Planning Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, where activities supporting the objectives agreed to during the Colonels Working Group are planned for fiscal year 2008.