Azeri Press Agency
December 19, 2022

Stoltenberg’s Special Representative: NATO and Azerbaijan are maintaining a close partnership to address security challenges

NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina was interviewed by APA Agency.

For many years, NATO and Azerbaijan are maintaining a close partnership focused on exchanges of view on security issues of mutual concern and practical cooperation to enhance the interoperability of our forces, but also to address emerging security challenges.

We…are working with our counterparts in the Mission of Azerbaijan to develop a new partnership framework document, called Individually Tailored Partnership Programme (or ITPP), which should set us on an ambitious course for the years to come.

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“The strategic significance of energy diversification and oil and gas deliveries from Azerbaijan has also further increased.”

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…I also welcome the central role played by the EU in this regard [Nagorno-Karabakh and the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia]. I believe that NATO can play a supporting role through its political dialogue with the capitals concerned….

…We call on Iran to immediately stop all support for Russia’s war.

As NATO’s strategic concept, adopted in June at the NATO Summit in Madrid, makes clear, NATO’s enlargement has been a historic success. Montenegro and North Macedonia have joined NATO in the past five years, and Finland and Sweden are in the process of joining….

NATO allies remain committed to the Open Door Policy. Ukraine’s aspirations for NATO membership are not new. As stated in NATO’s strategic concept, allies remain committed to the Bucharest Summit decision, which gave a membership perspective to both Georgia and Ukraine. The most immediate and urgent task is to sustain our support to Ukraine….Allies are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine, and we have decided to step this up. Not just with immediate assistance, but also by helping Ukraine transition from Soviet-era to NATO standards of equipment, training, and doctrine.

The successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the battlefield have indeed been remarkable….[They] show that the support NATO Allies have provided to Ukraine for many years has had an impact….

NATO ministers recently met both with Ukrainian Defence Minister Reznikov and Foreign Minister Kuleba to discuss Ukraine’s immediate and longer-term needs. We are committed sustain and stepping up their support to Ukraine….