Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
Commentary

NATO marks 20th anniversary of Partnership for Peace. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are active members of PfP.

13 January 2014

NATO is marking the 20th anniversary of Partnership for Peace (PfP), a program through which it co-operates with a number of countries that are not full members of the alliance.

Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are all active members of PfP. The three countries have also participated in NATO led missions, such as ISAF in Afghanistan. The three countries however have different visions on their future relations with the alliance. Georgia wants to be a full member and has been pushing for a time table for this, both under the previous government of President Saakashvili, and under the new government led by the Georgian Dream coalition. Georgia contributes a large contingent to ISAF and participates in other NATO led operations.Armenia is a member of the Russia led Collective Security Treaty Organisation and as such is not seeking any deeper relations with NATO. It does however participate enthusiastically in PfP programmes and has sent small contingents to NATO operations. Azerbaijan is also an enthusiastic participant of Partnership for Peace, and also participates in peacekeeping missions, but has declared that it is not at the  moment seeking membership of either NATO or CSTO.

PfP was designed as a flexible program that could enable countries with different visions to engage with NATO on practical issues.

In a message, issued in Brussels on Saturday, the NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said,

"Twenty years ago today, at the Brussels Summit, NATO Heads of State and Government took a far-reaching decision: to create a Partnership for Peace with the countries of the Euro-Atlantic area. Their vision was of a partnership that would reach across borders and ideological divides of the past; a partnership that would build peace and security through consultation, cooperation, and common action based on shared values of democracy, fundamental freedoms and human rights.

Today, we can proudly say that vision has become reality. The Partnership for Peace has successfully contributed to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area. Partners have joined our operations, working alongside NATO Allies to protect security in the Euro-Atlantic area and beyond. Allies and partners join in exercises and training activities every year to promote reforms, build capabilities, and improve our capacity to work together on shared security challenges. Twelve of the original partners from Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe have become NATO Allies.

Partnership for Peace will continue to foster peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area and help develop NATO's growing network of partnerships. As our Strategic Concept makes clear, cooperative security is one of NATO's core tasks. In September, when we gather for the NATO Summit in Wales, we will mark an Alliance whose partnerships are broader, deeper, and richer than ever before."

source: commonspace.eu

photo: Soldiers from the Nato-led force, Isaf, including from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, hold flags during a change of command ceremony at their headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
Landmines present to the European Union both a contradiction and a dilemma
Trending

Landmines present to the European Union both a contradiction and a dilemma

20 October 2026
Finland’s decision to buy one million landmines creates a serious contradiction in the policy of the European Union, and is symbolic of a bigger dilemma facing European countries as they get used to the need to acquire “hard” power to face an increasing threat from Russia. Finland is seeking to acquire one million anti-personnel mines at a cost of 100 million euros. Finland, together with Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia last year abandoned the Ottawa agreement, the international framework that bans the use of anti-personnel mines, which the EU had been instrumental in establishing and supporting. All five countries cite the threat from Moscow as the reason. Colonel Riku Mikkonen of the Army Command told Finland’s national news agency STT that officials are now gathering information from suppliers regarding the deal, the AFP news agency reports. Helsinki would like domestic manufacturers to supply the mines, with contracts signed by the end of 2027 and production up and running by 2028. “It would be useful in many ways if Finnish companies produced the anti-personnel mines in Finland,” Mikkonen said. About half a dozen Finnish firms qualify, he told STT. “However, at this stage, buying the mines from abroad is not totally ruled out,” he added. LANDMINES PROVIDE THE EU WITH BOTH A CONTRADICTION, AND A DILEMMA Eliminating landmine contamination worldwide is one of the EU’s main soft power postures, and it basks in its record as the biggest funder of anti-landmine action in the world. But the fact that 5 of its 27 member states  have now left the Ottawa Treaty dents the EU moral high ground. It is a contradiction that is too big and important to be ignored. It also presents the European Union with a deeper dilemma. The threat from Russia is changing what the EU has stood for decades, namely a force for good able to mobilise its considerable soft power for the greater good of humanity. How the Union will implement this change will define its future. In the meantime landmines have not become any less lethal, benign, or unimportant. They remain in many parts of the world a major threat to life, an impediment to prosperity, and a potential trigger to further conflict. The 22 EU members states that still adhere to the Ottawa treaty must regroup, and be more assertive in their quest against anti-personnel land mines. All the reasons why they supported the Ottawa treaty in the first place still exist. The message must be clear: NO TO LANDMINES!
Editor's choice
News
Pashinyan says that he wants peace treaty with Azerbaijan by 2031
Trending

Pashinyan says that he wants peace treaty with Azerbaijan by 2031

17 October 2026
Armenia should sign and ratify a peace treaty with Azerbaijan before 2031, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said. He described the objective as the top priority for his administration. Earlier, the Armenian prime minister also spoke about a possible land-swap with Azerbaijan Armenia and Azerbaijan should agree to establish a clear, conventional border without enclaves or exclaves, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said. Armenia controls three Azeri enclaves inside its borders while Baku controls one Armenian enclave – those could be subject to a land swap, Pashinyan announced.

Popular

Editor's choice
Interview
Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov
Trending

Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov

15 January 2026
Today, commonspace.eu starts a new regular weekly series. THURSDAY INTERVIEW, conducted by Lauri Nikulainen, will host  persons who are thinkers, opinion shapers, and implementors in their countries and spheres. We start the series with an interview with Murad Muradov, a leading person in Azerbaijan's think tank community. He is also the first co-chair of the Action Committee for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue. Last September he made history by being the first Azerbaijani civil society activist to visit Armenia after the 44 day war, and the start of the peace process. Speaking about this visit Murad Muradov said: "My experience was largely positive. My negative expectations luckily didn’t play out. The discussions were respectful, the panel format bringing together experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey was particularly valuable during the NATO Rose-Roth Seminar in Yerevan, and media coverage, while varied in tone, remained largely constructive. Some media outlets though attempted to represent me as more of a government mouthpiece than an independent expert, which was totally misleading.  Overall, I see these initiatives as important steps in rebuilding trust and normalising professional engagement. The fact that soon a larger Azerbaijani civil society visits to Armenia followed, reinforces the sense that this process is moving in the right direction." (click the image to read the interview in full)
Murad Muradov
Lauri Nikulainen interviews Murad Muradov