Kazinform, Kazakhstan
Nov. 5, 2004
NATO chief to visit Azerbaijan, Armenia.
Astana – Baku / Yerevan, November 5 KAZINFORM — NATO Secretary General
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will hold negotiations with the leadership of
Azerbaijan Friday and will then fly to Armenia.
The NATO chief, who arrived in Azerbaijan Thursday from Georgia on a
tour of South Caucasus, will meet Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev,
First Deputy Prime Minister Yagub Eyubov in charge of cooperation with
the alliance, and Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov.
Diplomatic sources in Bakusaid the talks would focus on expanded ties
between Azerbaijan and NATO both in the framework of the Partnership
for Peace plan and the program of individual cooperation. The parties
will also discuss the fight against terrorism within the international
coalition, Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.
Another topic will be the preparation for a seminar of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly on the situation in South Caucasus scheduled in
Baku in the end of November.
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will then proceed to Armenia to meet the leaders
of the republic and enhance the positions of the alliance in the
country. He said the alliance is ready to work with all the countries
of South Caucasus on the basis of their priorities.
He stressed in an interview that Armenia is a proof that any country
may develop close relations with Russia and simultaneously be an active
NATO partner.