NATO CONFERENCE IN BAKU

Azertag - State Information Agency of Azerbaijan Republic, 13 January 2004

On 13 January, in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, started the conference on preliminary planning the field exercises titled "Cooperative Best Effort-04" in the frame of the NATO "PfP" Program.

The Conference is attended by representatives of 20 NATO member-countries, including the United States, Greta Britain, Canada, Hungary, Poland and Turkey, partner countries - Azerbaijan, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Macedonia, Croatia, Switzerland, Lithuania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Moldova, as well as representatives of the military headquarters of this Organization in Brussels, Madrid and Naples, and some 100 IFRC representatives.

Opening the Conference, the research commander of Turkey within NATO in Spain Oljay Uyar expressed his condolence to President Ilham Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan on demise of president Heydar Aliyev.

Memory of President Heydar Aliyev was revered with a moment of silence. The speaker touched upon the significance of the event, assessed Azerbaijan's role in ensuring stability and security in the Eurasian region, and stressed the high organizing of the Conference.Representative of Azerbaijan, department chief of the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry Eyvaz Jafarov conveyed greetings and wishes of the defense minister of Azerbaijan, colonel-general Safar Abiyev to the participants. He reminded that in 23 April 1996, President Heydar Aliyev gave the relevant document to the Secretary General of NATO in the headquarters of this Organization.

And since, Azerbaijan has participated at the exercises, workshops and seminars and trainings in the frame of NATO. This led the Azerbaijani militaries to take part at the peacemaking operations in numerous world countries. The chief of department also stressed that the "Cooperative Best Effort-04" Conference would promote mutual understanding among the member states' armed forces, develop their military cooperation and enable to acquire modern military technologies.