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Azerbaijan presidentâ€™s visit to US highly appreciated - SURVEY

Azerbaijan presidentâ€™s visit to US highly appreciated - <span style="color: red;">SURVEY

31 March 2016 17:54 (UTC +04:00)

Chairman of the Great Establishment Party, MP Fazil Mustafa told APA that the visit was a new stage in the development of US-Azerbaijani relations. He said that this visit will create an opportunity for a review of bilateral relations.

"Especially the expression of the Azerbaijani president’s principal position there will have impact on some issues. In their statements, US officials have also expressed respect for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. However, we are expecting a clearer position because the US compliance with international law plays a central role in building global peace. Therefore, these meetings are in Azerbaijan’s favor and are an opportunity for us to direct the attention to Azerbaijan’s problems. I hope the result of these meetings will create conditions for US-Azerbaijan relations to develop,” he said.

Fazil Mustafa noted that one of the most important issues between the US and Azerbaijan is cooperation on security and economic areas.

“Coordination of the positions on these issues to some extent is in favor of both countries, at least in economic terms. New discussions of the Southern Gas Corridor and other projects and bringing them up, especially adoption of decisions suitable for the situation newly emerged following the escalation in Russia-Turkey relations, correspond to the two countries’ interests. We hope that it will allow both sides to arrive at mutually acceptable decisions in this regard or reach some understanding,” he added.

Motherland Party chairman Fazail Aghamali noted that the head of state's participation in the Nuclear Security Summit proves that Azerbaijan is an influential country in the world. According to him, ideas uttered during the meeting between President Ilham Aliyev and US Secretary of opinions show that the US considers Azerbaijan as its strategic ally.

"The US is much interested in having high-level relations with Azerbaijan. In turn, Azerbaijan has shown interest in development of relations with the US. All the meetings the president held in the US shows that a new stage has begun for building higher levels of relations in the future. In this respect, I highly appreciate the visit and the meetings,” said Fazail Aghamali.

Politician Elkhan Shahinoglu also touched on the importance of the visit, saying that it will give an impetus to bilateral relations.

“In a single day, on March 30, the head of state held meetings with John Kerry, the trade minister, and congressmen. Very serious messages were given at meetings with Kerry. We come to such a conclusion from Kerry’s statements that the US, as usual, gives much importance to relations with Azerbaijan and cooperation in security and energy are important for them too. They seek to deepen economic reforms with Azerbaijan and are pleased with that. Similarly, President Ilham Aliyev’s statements show that Azerbaijan considers the US as its friend and strategic partners like before. The US supports energy projects with Azerbaijan. And Azerbaijan has seen this support for 25 years. So the meetings are very important. I also think that economic cooperation will strengthen. The head of state too noted in his speech that the US had invested 10 billion dollars in Azerbaijan. And Azerbaijan is interested in continuation of these investments,” he said, adding that the negotiations in Washington might contribute to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“…because in the first place Armenia is being influenced by two big countries—Russia and the US. Using these opportunities, the US can might at least urge Armenia to pull its troops out of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts,” he said.