Zaman, Turkey
April 13 2005

Rumsfeld Stops in Baku
By Anadolu News Agency (aa)

US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrived in the Azerbaijani
capital Baku last night and has met with his Azerbaijani counterpart
Sefer Abiyev today.

According to the Azertac news agency, issues regarding both countries
were discussed during the leaders’ meeting.

Reporting that Rumsfeld stopped at Baku on his way from Bagdat
(Baghdad) to Kandahar, the Turan News Agency said that the two
ministers discussed the situation of Azerbaijani soldiers in Iraq and
a possible solution for the Upper Karabagh issue. Upper Karabagh has
been under Armenian occupation for a long time and Abiyev emphasized
that delays in finding a solution for the Upper Karabagh issue pose a
threat against the security of the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil
pipeline. Rumsfeld expressed that Washington is ready to help
Azerbaijan’s integration process in to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) and added that they give importance to bilateral
relations between the US and Azerbaijan, and want to develop them
further.

Rumsfeld also met Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizade before he
left Baku.