Turan news agency, Azerbaijan
July 11 2009
US diplomat comments on media freedom, use of radar station, gas
project in Baku
Baku, 11 July: US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg held talks
with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku yesterday. In a
conversation with a group of journalists at the US embassy on Saturday
[11 July] morning, Steinberg said that Azerbaijan was an important
partner of the USA and an important country in the region which had
good ties with both the West and the Islamic world. The USA attaches
importance to cooperation with Azerbaijan in the energy sphere and
rates highly its support in Afghanistan, Steinberg said.
"I think Azerbaijan is a good example of how a country’s national
wealth is used for the welfare of its people," the deputy secretary of
state said, asked whether democracy was possible in an eastern country
rich with oil.
How can the USA support new media in Azerbaijan in view of the arrest
of bloggers Adnan Hacizada and Emin Milli and was this issue discussed
at his meeting with Ilham Aliyev, and what is being done to resume the
broadcasts of Radio Liberty on local [FM] frequencies? To these
questions, Steinberg said that the State Department was closely
following the developments and that he had been informed by the
embassy in Baku of the latest events. Close contacts are being
maintained with the Azerbaijani authorities in order to resolve the
problem in the most acceptable way, the diplomat said.
"We consider you (Radio Liberty – editor) to be an important source of
information, especially in the light of the latest events in Iran. We
also attach importance to new media as an important part of a free and
democratic society. We discussed the role and place of the media in
the country’s life, as well as other issues at the meeting with Ilham
Aliyev," Steinberg said.
The diplomat said that the Karabakh settlement was an important part
of his mission and that significant progress had been achieved in the
negotiations of late. "We hope that a further success would be
achieved at the forthcoming negotiations of the two [Armenian and
Azerbaijani] presidents in Moscow [17-18 July], and I will continue
the discussion of this topic in Yerevan where we are going now,"
Steinberg said.
Asked by Turan news agency whether the possibility of the joint use of
the Qabala radar station was discussed in Baku, Steinberg said that
this issue had been discussed at the negotiations between the US and
Russian presidents in Moscow [on 6-8 July]. The USA is considering
this possibility and this topic has been discussed with the
Azerbaijani leadership. Currently the issue of the use of the Qabala
radar station is being considered as part of an overall missile
defence strategy and its parameters, the diplomat said.
The USA supports the Nabucco project and regards as normal Azerbaijani
gas export to Russia.
"We are against excluding Russia from the gas supply scheme and we
support multivector routes of gas export," Steinberg said, commenting
on Washington’s position on Nabucco. As to the USA’s possible
involvement in the project, this issue remains open and experts are
studying the possibility of funding by the USA and other forms of US
involvement in Nabucco, he added.
In his trip, Steinberg is being accompanied by Assistant Secretary of
State Philip Gordon.