NATO, Azerbaijan working on new framework document on cooperation - Stoltenberg

BAKU. March 18 (Interfax) - Azerbaijan and NATO are working on a new framework document on cooperation, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

"We are now in the process of agreeing a new framework for partnership between NATO and Azerbaijan and that framework will focus on the issues like inter-operability, which is exactly how to ensure that the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan can work together to meet NATO standards, and are fully inter-operable with NATO forces," Stoltenberg said in an interview with Azerbaijan's Azertac agency.

Azerbaijan and NATO attach considerable importance to military education issues, which will promote the development of mutual activities between the two sides, he said.

"We will look into other areas where we can further deepen our cooperation and all of these will bring Azerbaijani and NATO forces closer to each other, which I think, will be of mutual benefit both for Azerbaijan and NATO allies," Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg said NATO is on the whole interested in developing cooperation with the countries of the South Caucasus in the future.

"In Caucasus, we have several important NATO partners. So, the Caucasus is important to NATO because it matters for Euro-Atlantic security and NATO is eager for the further development of partnership with the countries in the Caucasus. Of course, Georgia is in a special position because Georgia has applied for NATO membership. And NATO has also stated several times that Georgia will become a NATO member," he said.