Azeri leader, US official upbeat on multilateral cooperation

Lider TV, Baku
27 Mar 04

[Presenter] The US deputy secretary of state has met Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev. Bilateral relations, the joint fight against
international terrorism and the Karabakh settlement were discussed
during the talks. Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan was cooperating
with the USA mainly in the energy sphere. Armitage said that the USA
would provide generous aid for the development of the region and
Azerbaijan.

[Correspondent over video of the meeting] US-Azerbaijani relations are
developing speedily. Our states are closely cooperating in all
spheres. President Ilham Aliyev, who received US Deputy Secretary of
State Richard Armitage, also touched on US support for the energy
sphere. He said that the large-scale project launched in the region –
the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline – was
continuing successfully and noted that US support for this was
obvious.

Ilham Aliyev expressed the hope that apart from economic projects, the
USA would support socioeconomic development and regional programmes
carried out in the republic. He noted the high level of military
cooperation and its further development in the future. Aliyev said
Azerbaijan was together with the USA in the anti-terror coalition and
added that this policy would be conducted in the future as well. The
head of state, who stressed the importance of regional security
issues, also touched on the painful Nagornyy Karabakh problem.

[Ilham Aliyev] The regional security issues are very important and we
are convinced that peace will be restored in the region soon. The
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict creates great difficulties for regional
security. We hope that the OSCE Minsk Group will play a positive role
in the resolution of this conflict, the Azerbaijani lands will be
liberated from the occupiers, Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity will
be restored and all international legal norms will be observed.

[Correspondent] The American guest personally thanked Ilham Aliyev and
the Azerbaijani people for supporting the USA in the fight against
terrorism. We are in the same coalition. The guest said that
Azerbaijani soldiers are serving bravely in Iraq and Afghanistan and
expressed the hope that bilateral relations will be developing in all
possible spheres. We also want the Karabakh problem to be resolved
peacefully. We hope that the Caucasus can be a better partner of the
West in the future. Therefore, the problems in the Caucasus should be
resolved first of all, end quote.

Mahsati Seyidzada and Rasad Alakbarov, Lider TV.