NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina visited Azerbaijan

NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Javier Colomina visited Azerbaijan

The delegation led by Javier Colomina, newly appointed NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, visited Azerbaijan on 18 October, 2021. This visit was the first official visit to Azerbaijan by J. Colomina.

In the course of the visit, J. Colomina held bilateral meetings with Speaker of Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov and Minister of Defense Colonel General Zakir Hasanov. Moreover, NATO Special Representative met with the students and took part in a roundtable discussion hosted by ADA University.

Throughout the meetings, J. Colomina had been thoroughly briefed on the consequences of the years-long policy of aggression against Azerbaijan by Armenia, elimination of the occupation of our territories by the victorious Azerbaijani Army as a result of a 44-day Patriotic War and rehabilitation and reconstruction activities being conducted by the Government of Azerbaijan in the liberated territories.

NATO Special Representative was also informed about Azerbaijan’s efforts to restore peace and stability in the region and Armenia’s refusal to hand over all mine maps even after a year since the Trilateral Statement of 10 November, in a serious violation of international humanitarian law. In the meantime, it was noted that following the elimination of the factor of occupation of our territories, Azerbaijan stands ready to normalize relations with Armenia on the basis of the principles of international law.

J.Colomina expressed satisfaction with the current level of NATO-Azerbaijan relations and emphasized the great importance the Alliance attaches to the cooperation with Azerbaijan. On behalf of the NATO Allied nations, Special Representative thanked Azerbaijan for self-sacrificing service of its peacekeepers in Kabul airport within NATO’s Afghanistan Mission. He stressed that the Alliance supports the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 

During the meetings, the sides also exchanged views on the latest developments in the region, situation along the state border of Azerbaijan, the current agenda and perspectives of NATO-Azerbaijan practical cooperation.