Interfax
Aug 10 2004

Azerbaijan calls U.S. strategic partner

Baku. (Interfax) – Azerbaijan considers the United States a strategic
partner, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Monday.

During a meeting with a U.S. Senate delegation led by Senate
President Pro Tempore Ted Stevens, Aliyev expressed satisfaction with
the pace of development of Azerbaijani-U.S. political, economic, and
military cooperation and said energy projects in Azerbaijan in which
the United States is involved were of global significance.

Aliyev called for stronger cooperation between the two countries with
hopes that Americans may become better informed about the situation
in Azerbaijan, including the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over
Nagorno- Karabakh, an Armenian-speaking enclave in Azerbaijan that
Armenia has occupied along with surrounding Azerbaijani districts for
several years.