USA to expand military ties with Azerbaijan – US congressman

Trend news agency
27 May 04

Baku, 27 May: “We welcome the Azerbaijani peacekeepers’ involvement,
along with the US military, in the fight against international
terrorism,” Congressman Curt Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed
Services Committee, said at a meeting with Azerbaijani Defence Minister
Safar Abiyev on 26 May.

The US Congressman’s mission in Baku is to expand military cooperation
between the USA and Azerbaijan, Weldon said. He highly praised
Azerbaijan’s role in regional security issues. The USA intends to
make greater efforts for settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict,
he said. “The USA will continue its relations with Azerbaijan as with
its strategic partner,” he said.

Defence Minister Abiyev stressed that Azerbaijan is working shoulder
to shoulder with the USA in NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme and
in the struggle against international terrorism. Since the first days
of its independence, Azerbaijan has given preference to integration
into Europe and the USA and firmly has kept to this position, Abiyev
said. He also provided the congressman with detailed information
about the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict.