Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Eric Rubin: US and Azerbaijan have a lot of common problems and interests

19 January 2012 15:42 (UTC +04:00)

US and Azerbaijan have a lot of common problems and interests,â€ Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Eric Rubin said at the press conference in Baku, APA reports.

Eric Rubin regarded as positive the meetings held in Baku. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State said he had met with President Ilham Aliyev, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Defense Minister Safar Abiyev, members of the parliament, representatives of NGOs, students and heads of various parties.

He said the aim of the visit was to enhance the bilateral relations, humanitarian cooperation, particularly exchange of students.

â€œI visited Azerbaijan for the first time in the end of 1980s. Then I visited your country for several times and I should say Azerbaijan achieved a progress in this periodâ€.

Reminding about the victory of our country in the Eurovision Song Contest and Azerbaijanâ€™s election as the non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Eric Rubin said his country is ready to support Azerbaijan.

He said security issues and Iranâ€™s nuclear program were on agenda during his visit to Azerbaijan. â€œWe are concerned about the Iranâ€™s nuclear program. This factor threatens whole region. Azerbaijan is a neighbor of Iran. US State Department said Iran has a choice and must go to negotiations to discuss this problemâ€.

Welcoming Azerbaijanâ€™s support of operations in Afghanistan, Eric Rubin said the issues related to Gabala radar station were not discussed in his talks in Baku.