NATO South Caucasus representative: Azerbaijan is not forced to reject Soviet weapon on the way to NATO integration

Azerbaijan and NATO have a good program of cooperation - Individual Partnership Actions Plan, said NATO authorized officer on South Caucasus Zbignev Ribatski. According to him, last year Azerbaijan developed the new IPAP, which combines experience gained in the time of bilateral cooperation in the previous years and this document deepens joint work in different spheres.

"Azerbaijan's cooperation with NATO proves effective and is developing positively. Azerbaijan is quite active and is successfully implementing IPAP. It is no secret that the main component of bilateral cooperation is the defense sphere, but we cooperate with other structures, such as the Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, Frontier Service, as well.

Conduction of joint operations is among the directions which enjoys more of NATO attention and cooperation with Azerbaijan should be especially marked here.

In conclusion, the NATO representative said that NATO does not force Azerbaijan to reject Soviet armament in favor of the western in terms of army reformation in line with NATO standards.

"Every country settles these issues by itself, thus all the steps Azerbaijan intends to take towards, for example, renewal of military technique are purely Azerbaijan's decision. NATO is not interfering with this issue. It relates not only to partner countries but also full members of NATO. This is a process, which requires large financial costs and every country settles the rearmament issue depending on its financial potential".

According to Ribatski, the most important thing is mutual compliance and understanding between the servicemen of NATO partner-states and alliance member-states, understanding of procedures, actions, coordination of these actions. This is most important, said he, adding that armament and technique issues are settled by the countries independently.

/Day.Az/