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US Deputy Secretary of State: â€œAzerbaijan has a great potentialâ€

18 October 2011 14:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementieva â€“ APA. â€œAzerbaijan is an important and long-term partner for USâ€, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said during his visit to Baku, APA reports. Burns said Azerbaijan had a great potential. â€œUS support the development of this potentialâ€. He also noted that US is ready to develop cooperation with Azerbaijan on combating extremism and diversification of energy routes.

Deputy Secretary of State said visiting Azerbaijan he aimed to exchange views on deepening of relations between the two countries. He noted that energy issues and democratic reforms were on agenda during the meetings in Baku.

Speaking about the meeting with Azerbaijani President, Burns said he thanked Ilham Aliyev for Azerbaijanâ€™s significant support to peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan. He said he emphasized the importance of strengthening democratic reforms.

Burns said he met with the representatives of civil society in Azerbaijan. â€œI was intending to exchange views on their ideasâ€.

William Burns ended his visit to Azerbaijan. He left Baku for Tbilisi.

It was Burnsâ€™ second visit to Azerbaijan as the US Deputy Secretary of State. His first visit took place last February.