NATO Secretary General arrives in Azerbaijan

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is arriving in Azerbaijan for a familiarization visit today. During his visit, Mr Scheffer will carry on negotiations with Azerbaijan political and military leaders. He is expected to discuss the participation of countries in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, implementation of the plan for individual Azerbaijan-NATO partnership, development of the cooperation within the international coalition against terrorism.

The preparation for the international Rose-Roth Seminar planned to be conducted by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Baku in late November will also be discussed during the meetings. Then the NATO Secretary General will attend a meeting of the commission for NATO — Azerbaijan cooperation.

Commenting on the visit of Mr Scheffer, Uzeir Dzhafarov, a political scientist and military expert, said Mr Scheffer would raise in edgeways the issue of Azerbaijan's fulfilling all terms concerning the Rose-Roth Seminar in Baku. "After the cancellation of the 2004 Cooperative Best Effort military exercises in September, a certain vacuum of no confidence in Azerbaijan has appeared in NATO. Now Azerbaijan has a chance to fill this vacuum using the Secretary General's visit," Mr Dzhafarov concluded.