Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO within his visit to Brussels

At the meeting, the sides expressed satisfaction with the development of partnership between Azerbaijan and NATO. They praised Azerbaijan’s active participation in the programs such as Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), Planning and Review Process (PARP) and Operational Capabilities Concept (OCC) of NATO. They also highlighted the transit opportunities provided by Azerbaijan for NATO forces, as well as its contributions for the International Security Assistance Force and Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan in order to support the international peace and security.

Mentioning that the relationship between Azerbaijan and Afghanistan is also developing at the high level on the bilateral basis, the recent visit of Mohammad Hanif Atmar, National Security Advisor of Afghanistan was noted as a good example in this regard. It was noted that launching of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will increase the access opportunities of Afghanistan to the regional transport infrastructure.

Noting the important role of Azerbaijan in ensuring the energy security of Europe, they underscored that TANAP and TAP gas pipeline projects are being successfully implemented.

Giving detailed information about the negotiation process on the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Minister Elmar Mammadyarov emphasized that the Vienna meeting creates favorable opportunities to start substantive talks on the conflict. Mentioning that all international community, including OSCE MG co-chairs accept the fact of unacceptability and unsustainability of the current status-quo, E.Mammadyarov stressed that in order to change the status-quo, the fact of occupation must be ceased and the armed forces of Armenia have to be withdrawn from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

At the meeting, the sides exchanged their views on the future perspectives of Azerbaijan-NATO relations, as well as international and regional issues.