WASHINGTON-BAKU RELATIONS TO DEVELOP SYSTEMATICALLY DURING NEW U.S. PRESIDENT’S OFFICE: DEPUTY MINISTER
Trend News Agency
Nov 11 2008
Azerbaijan
France, Paris, 11 November / Trend News corr. A.Maharramli / Relations
between Azerbaijan and the United States will develop systematically
during the office term of the new U.S. Administration, Azerbaijan
believes.
"I see good prospects to develop the relations between Azerbaijan
and the United States," Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Hafiz
Pashayev said to Trend News on 11 November.
Democrats’ candidate Senator Barack Obama won the presidential election
of 4 November by a landslide over the Republicans’ candidate Senator
John McCain and became the 44th President of the United States. The
inauguration ceremony of the first black U.S. President will take
place on 20 January 2009.
Baku and Washington stated that strategic cooperation has been
established between Azerbaijan and the United States. The links between
the two countries will develop in the same format, Pashayev said.
"I do not believe the prospects of development will deteriorate. The
current relations meet the interests of both countries and this is
the source of my optimism," he said.
The U.S. position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is known to all,
Pashayev said adding that "this position is unchangeable".
The United States is a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, which mediates
in settling of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and
Nagorno-Karabakh’s seven surrounding regions. In 1994, Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active
hostilities ended. The countries keep on peace negotiating.
OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by USA, Russia, and France is engaged in
peaceable solution of the conflict.