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Romania’s Embassy in Baku, a NATO contact point embassy to Azerbaijan, over September 14-15, 2009 attends the workshop on water management, which is organized in Baku as part of the NATO programme on Science for Peace, carried out by the NATO Public Diplomacy Division in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.

According to a release issued by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), the agenda of the workshop includes subjects connected to the pollution of the environment and new approaches to ensuring the quality of water.

Romania’s Ambassador in Baku Nicolae Ureche delivered the opening speech, in which he referred, among other things, to Romania’s role and contribution in its capacity as NATO contact point embassy to Azerbaijan to disseminating the NATO values in this country, as well as to a better understanding of the role and opportunities the North Atlantic Alliance can offer to the partner countries.

Representatives of the NATO International Secretariat, of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, of the United States Agency for International Development as well as experts from NATO member and partner states attend the above-mentioned event.
The role of a NATO contact point embassy is exerted for two-year time spans.

On January 1, 2009 Romania took over the mandate of the NATO contact point embassy (CPE) to Azerbaijan for 2009-2010.

The NATO contact point embassies in the partner states play an important part in the relation between the Alliance and the state under consideration, which includes support in carrying out NATO activities, especially the public diplomacy ones locally, as well as taking the necessary measures with a view to ensuring a communication channel for the NATO policies in the partner state.

The importance attached by Romania to this mandate is proved by the large number of activities organized by the Embassy in Baku in its capacity as a CPE by the participation of some MAE officials, at the level of secretary of state included, as well by the constant participation of Romania’s Ambassador in Baku in the events dealing with security subjects organized by the Azerbaijani officials in cooperation with the NATO International School in Azerbaijan.

These projects aimed both at preparing and organizing some conferences, seminars, workshops dealing with security subjects in cooperation with NATO and the local partners as well as organizing some information and documentation visits to be paid by opinion creating people and by representatives of the academic environment, students, journalists from Azerbaijan at the headquarters of the Alliance.