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U.S. ChargÃ© dâ€™Affaires: â€œRight now the U.S. has no plans to use Gabala RLSâ€ - INTERVIEW

U.S. ChargÃ© dâ€™Affaires: â€œRight now the U.S. has no plans to use Gabala RLSâ€ -<font color=red> INTERVIEW </font>

30 April 2012 13:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementieva â€“ APA. Interview with U.S. Embassy ChargÃ© dâ€™Affaires Adam Sterling

- This year Azerbaijan and the U.S. celebrate the 20th anniversary of establishing of diplomatic relations. How do you estimate the achievements and development of Azerbaijan over the 20 years?

- We are looking back over the period of 20 years and it is useful now to look at where Azerbaijan and the U.S was 20 years ago.

First, letâ€™s look where Azerbaijan was 20 years ago. It regained its independence in a very difficult period. The United Statesâ€™ overriding goal from the beginning of our diplomatic relations was to support Azerbaijan and its development as a strong, prosperous, sovereign and independent country. In other words, the U.S.â€™s main goal for Azerbaijan was the same, I think, as Azerbaijanâ€™s goal at the time. If we look at Azerbaijan today â€“ 20 years later- it is clear, that Azerbaijan has come an enormous distance in twenty years towards becoming a strong, prosperous, sovereign and independent country.

I hope and I think that the U.S. has had some role in contributing to that development in Azerbaijan. I hope that Azerbaijanis recognizes the support of the U.S. over these 20 years. So to the extent that Azerbaijan is a success, I think our relationship has been a success.

There are some specific issues. We have had enormously successful cooperation in international security matters. Azerbaijan and U.S. soldiers have served together in Kosovo, Iraq and still today in Afghanistan. Of course, Azerbaijan is very much supporting international efforts in Afghanistan.

On Energy probably the big headline of the 20 years was the support my government gave to the development of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which is a very fundamental aspect of Azerbaijanâ€™s economic success over the last 20 years. And the U.S. has worked to support Azerbaijan in goals for economic and political reform. We have contributed a lot of assistance over 20 years and we are continuing to do so.
Overall it is a very positive picture.

- What are the priorities of the future development between Azerbaijan and U.S.?

- We are interested in continuing to deepen and strengthen our relationship overall. Clearly, a top priority is going to be international security. That is taken on the new significance this year as Azerbaijan has joined U.S. in UN Security Council. So we are now partners and consult each other on global security issues.

Secondly, I would like to particularly emphasize on the economic agenda looking forward. As you know, last week a large delegation of Azerbaijani officials traveled to Washington for our bilateral economic partnership commission. Finance minister Sharifov led a multi-agency delegation from the government of Azerbaijan. And that discussion from U.S. side was led by the State Departmentâ€™s senior economic official, Undersecretary Robert Hormats. They viewed a broad range of economic issues. I want to stress that it was everything, not just energy. There are lots of areas of economic agenda we would to work on. If you look at trade between the U.S. and Azerbaijan, there were a big trade deals in recent years. Azerbaijan has bought a communication satellite from Orbital Digital. Azal has purchased a number of Boeing airplanes including two new 777 Dreamliners. And those particular sales correspond to two of the priority areas the Government of Azerbaijan has identified as the areas which helps to diversify the economy: information technology and transportation.

In other areas, we eager to support the diversification of Azerbaijan economy, because we recognize that as a way to strengthen Azerbaijan going forward and not to be so dependent on energy. Some is in trade and some is in assistance. We have concentrated on the agricultural sector and we continue to do so. Economic agenda is quite big.

And of course, the third major area, we will continue the internal reform, political and economic reform. We will continue to support efforts to provide technical assistance and political support to help Azerbaijan in this reform agenda.

- The human rights sphere in Azerbaijan sometimes creates a concern in the international arena. How do you estimate the progress of Azerbaijan on the issues of democracy and human rights?

- You have clearly identified one of the major priorities for the U.S. We strongly support democratic reform and respect of human rights. That is a global position of U.S.
government. Because we know that our strongest partners internationally are countries with strong democracies and strong respect for human rights. And we want to have the strongest possible partnership with Azerbaijan, so we support reform in that area for Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has made progress in this area over 20 year. Much clearly remains to be done. My government is very clear in its public statements about our concerns. Recently there has been particular emphasis on issue of journalists. We have expressed our concerns about attempts to pressure specific journalists, such as Khadija Ismaylova and Idrak Abbasov. We have been gratified to see that senior Azerbaijani officials recognize that cases like that of attempts to pressure journalists need to be dealt with and we are encouraging serious investigations into those cases.

- What are the prospective for cancellation of the Jackson-Vanik amendment and Section 907 as they apply to Azerbaijan? How is this process unfolding?

- The Jackson-Vanik is something that dates from the Soviet era and applies to successor countries. First of all, it does not have any impact on Azerbaijan, because U.S. presidents wave its provisions every year. It is still in law but the current and previous presidents have waved its provisions. It really does not have an impact.
Typically as a country moves towards membership in World Trade Organization the U.S. Congress then removes countries from Jackson-Vanik and it requires congressional approve to do this. The president can not to do it on his own.

Section 907 is at the Freedom Support Act is something that specifically applies to Azerbaijan. Once again, the provision has been waved every year since 2001. Secretary Clinton when she was here 2 years ago said that she personally favors the appeal of 907, but this a U.S. law, so only Congress can do it.

- Is the U.S. still considering the joint use with Russia of the Gabala radar station as part of cooperation on missile defense? Is the issue still on the table?

- First of all, President Obama, like President Bush before him, has expressed his commitment to cooperation with Russia on missile defense as a general proposition. The missile threat affects Russia and affects the U.S. and all European countries in between so it make sense to respond together and we would like to see a system of cooperation in missile defense. Whether or not Gabala plays a part in any kind of missile defense cooperation is not on the table right now. There are no such plans.

- The renewal of the Azerbaijani-Russian contract on Gabala is being delayed. Is the U.S. interested in using Gabala RLS?

- It is Azerbaijan and Russiaâ€™s bilateral matter between these two countries. We donâ€™t have a role or an interest in negotiations in between Russia and Azerbaijan.

- But does the U.S. have an interest in using the Gabala RLS separately from Russia?

- There no such plans right now.

- Can you comment on U.S.-Azerbaijan military cooperation? Are there any U.S.-Azerbaijan military exercises near future?

- There are events in military cooperation sphere between the U.S. and Azerbaijan pretty much every day. In the Embassy we have several military officers, who work full time just on military to military cooperation that we have. All of these things - exercises in the field with soldiers in uniform, conferences, trainings, exercises that take place around the table - as I said, these goes pretty much every week. So there is a high level military to military cooperation. As far as the exercises with soldiers in the field, the trend in recently years has been to move from bilateral exercises, of just U.S.-Azerbaijan, to multilateral exercises that include other NATO member countries, not just the U.S., and NATO member partners, not just Azerbaijan. So for example, in Romania next month the Black Sea Rotational Force exercise will be held with the participation of the U.S., Azerbaijan and other NATO members and partners.

- How is U.S.-Azerbaijan cooperation on the security infrastructure in the Caspian Sea going?

We have a lot of security cooperation between our governments. A particularly new and dynamic way of cooperation focuses specifically on energy infrastructure in the Caspian Sea.

Our two governments are working quite a bit on this together. Last October official delegation from Azerbaijan from many agencies interested in security for energy infrastructure traveled to the U.S. to learn how the U.S. protects our own energy infrastructure against lots of different kinds of risks. So this team from Azerbaijan visited a U.S. Coast Guard facility, an offshore oil platform, spoke to the U.S. specialists who worked to respond to the Deep Water Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago. So they got a broad picture how they protect energy infrastructure and what assistance we can provide to Azerbaijan. Our two governments are now elaborating what kinds of programs will follow on.

- On the role of Azerbaijan in Afghanistan cargo traffic, does the U.S. intend to increase the quantity of cargo traffic via Azerbaijani air space?

- Azerbaijan is an excellent partner of the U.S. and NATO in the transit of cargo to Afghanistan. The U.S. Transportation Command and the U.S. military thinks very highly of Azerbaijan as a partner. We are very much interested in continuing this cooperation with Azerbaijan. Whether the quantity of cargo goes up or not we really canâ€™t say right now, because the amount of cargo depends on a lot of factors. But certainly, we are very much interested in continuing the cooperation in cargo transit.

- Currently this involves only transit of non-lethal supplies, but are there any negotiations with Azerbaijan on the transit of military cargo?

- No.

- I would like to touch on the issue of Iran. Does the U.S. consult with Azerbaijan on the issue of the imposition of sanctions against Iran?

- We have long had consultations between our governments about implementation of sanctions against Iran. The U.S. recognizes that Azerbaijan is in a very special position by virtue of being Iranâ€™s neighbour. And that factors into our conversations. That dialogue with Azerbaijan of course has new quality this year with Azerbaijan being on the UN Security Council. Iranian nuclear program is a challenge to the entire global community. The Security Council is the primary body trying to guarantee international security. So Azerbaijan has special responsibilities globally now as a member of Security Council. We of course, consult as well as Security Council members on sanctions and other aspects of responding to Iran challenge.

- Your comments on the nomination of new candidate of US ambassador to Azerbaijan?

- The U.S. Embassy recognizes that the importance of having an Ambassador to the U.S.-Azerbaijan relationship. With that in mind, we welcome the President Obamaâ€™s April 26 announcement that he intends to nominate Richard Morningstar to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan.

But the nomination is just the first step in the process. Under the U.S. constitution, the Senate must confirm ambassadorial nominations, so it will have the final say on the nomination.

- How do you react to the OSCE Minsk Groupâ€™s most recent statement about ceasefire violations along the Line of Contact?

- As the Co-Chairsâ€™ April 27 statement clearly states, there is no alternative to a peacefully negotiated settlement of the conflict. We urge all sides to respect the 1994 ceasefire and to abstain from retaliatory measures that would lead to further escalation.