By  Trend

Azerbaijan has played a strong role in NATO missions, said US Permanent Representative to NATO, Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison at a press briefing Dec.4 in response to Trend's question.

"We recently had the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev at NATO headquarters. That was a very good meeting. We want to keep close ties with Azerbaijan," she added.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended a meeting of the North Atlantic Council of NATO in Brussels Nov.23.

During the meeting, the head of state noted that Azerbaijan and NATO maintain successful cooperation in various areas.

Stressing Azerbaijan’s active involvement in different missions and operations of NATO, President Ilham Aliyev hailed the alliance’s contribution to mine clearance operations in Azerbaijan.

The head of state said Azerbaijan is expanding its peacekeeping activities in Afghanistan and is cooperating with this country at the bilateral level in economic and other areas.

Relations with NATO started when Azerbaijan joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (1992) and the Partnership for Peace (1994).

The country’s program of cooperation with NATO is set out in an Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), which is agreed every two years.

Azerbaijan has long been an active contributor to NATO-led operations – it deployed troops to Kosovo in the past.