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Azerbaijan is becoming a substantial contributor to European energy security, Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan

15 February 2012 20:32 (UTC +04:00)

â€œRelations between NATO and Azerbaijan have very good history, history of success. And since early 90s Azerbaijan has been very active in its aspirations to integrate into Euroatlantic institutions. And we made a big progress in that respect. We conduct reforms in our armed forces and I`m trying to bring them in accordance with NATO standards. Therefore this part of our cooperation already has very important impact on the situation on our armed forces. At the same time, participation in NATO operations in various parts of the world also helped our servicemen to increase their capability and to learn from NATO colleagues a lotâ€.

â€Today we also discussed the regional security issues, particularly situation with respect to negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. I informed Mr. Secretary General of the current status of these negotiations and once again expressed our hope that the conflict will be resolved as soon as possible and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan will be restored. There is a very good legal basis for that. The United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding an unconditional and immediate withdrawal of the Armenian troops from occupied territories, and we expect Armenia to comply with these resolutionsâ€.

â€Part of our discussions today was devoted to energy security. This is very important element of national security of countries, both producers and consumers. And Azerbaijan is becoming, and I`m sure will become, a substantial contributor to European energy security, and our consumers in Europe will be member states of NATO. Therefore this is also part of our overall discussions and consultationsâ€.

â€Once again I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Secretary General for invitation, satisfaction with the way how our relations are developing and transforming, and hope that these relations will continue successfully and will be based on mutual interests and shared values,â€ said Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan .