"Section 907 is completely outdated and should be repealed in its entirety," President Ilham Aliyev said at the 4th Shusha Global Media Forum, APA reports.
"In 1992, the U.S. Congress adopted the Freedom Support Act to provide financial assistance to the states that gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Section 907 was added to that law by pro-Armenian senators. By the way, President Biden was also a senator at the time and was one of those senators. This was probably one of the reasons for the difficulties we experienced in our relations with the Biden administration. This amendment prevented Azerbaijan from receiving U.S. financial assistance on the grounds that Azerbaijan had allegedly imposed a blockade on Armenia. First, this was not true. Azerbaijan did not blockade Armenia. On the contrary, Armenia had occupied our territories, and those occupied territories lay between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Had there been no occupation, the issue of the so-called blockade would never have arisen.
Secondly, that decision was very painful for us at the time because the country was in an extremely difficult economic situation, and Azerbaijan was the only former Soviet republic subjected to discrimination by the U.S. Congress. Today, however, that amendment is completely outdated and has lost its relevance.
First, Azerbaijan and Armenia have initialed a peace agreement with the participation of President Trump.
Second, Azerbaijan has unilaterally lifted all transit restrictions it had imposed on Armenia. More than 40,000 tonnes of various cargo from Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries have been transported to Armenia through Azerbaijan.
In addition, Azerbaijan itself has begun exporting petroleum products to Armenia. If I am not mistaken, more than 10,000 tonnes of petroleum products have been supplied so far. Especially under current conditions, when many countries are facing fuel shortages, Armenia has a reliable source of fuel, and that source is Azerbaijan. Otherwise, Armenia would probably have been forced to search for gasoline and diesel in different parts of the world today," the head of state noted.
According to the President of Azerbaijan, these facts once again demonstrate that Section 907 is completely outdated and should be fully repealed.
"Unfortunately, despite President Trump's firm position, Congress has not yet done so. By the way, during our meeting at the White House in Washington last August, President Trump signed, in my presence, a document suspending the application of this amendment for one year.
At present, the amendment is not applied in practice. However, its symbolic and political significance still remains. I believe that the sooner Congress repeals this amendment entirely, the better it will be for both Azerbaijan and the U.S. Congress. It would demonstrate that Azerbaijan is no longer subject to discrimination and that Congress has shown responsibility by acknowledging its past mistakes and acting in line with today's geopolitical realities. We hope this will happen.
At the same time, I can say that under the current administration, Section 907 no longer has any negative impact on Azerbaijan. I would say that relations between Azerbaijan and the Trump administration are excellent. We are very pleased that these relations have already reached the level of a strategic partnership.
My historic meeting with President Trump in Washington last August, our meeting in Davos this January, Azerbaijan's invitation to become one of the founding members of the Peace Council established at President Trump's initiative, Vice President J.D. Vance's visit to Azerbaijan, the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Establishment of a Strategic Partnership with him in Baku, and other developments demonstrate that our relations have reached an unprecedented level.
We are currently working actively to implement all the provisions of the Strategic Partnership Declaration.
The working groups established for this purpose are very actively engaged in the areas of trade and investment, digital transformation and artificial intelligence, energy security and transport connectivity, as well as defense and arms sales."
The head of state stressed that the United States had lifted all restrictions on arms sales to Azerbaijan.
"Immediately afterwards, the United Kingdom and the member states of the European Union took the same step. I believe all this clearly demonstrates the spirit, essence and future potential of our bilateral relations."
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