Azerbaijan, Baku, August 12/ Trend , E.Tariverdiyeva /
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza arrived in Baku on August 11. This is a farewell visit of Bryza to the region as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.
"I'm very grateful for the time that we worked together with you, for the respect for the process of the Minsk Group and me personally," the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair Matthew Bryza briefed the media.
According to Bryza, the work of journalists helped him in his diplomatic efforts.
"Tina Kaidanov will replace me on the post of U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State," he said.
Bryza could not name the new U.S. co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group.
"The United States and Azerbaijan and their peoples are connected by many interests, including security interests, as well as in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," he said.
He said that the U.S. is interested in Azerbaijan as an energy supplier to Europe.
"President Obama considers Azerbaijan a very important strategic partner of the United States, and many high-ranking representatives from the U.S. Administration, such as Steinberg and Gordon, have already made visits to the country, he said. - The U.S. Administration will continue the process of strengthening relations and cooperation between our countries. I hope to work in the Caucasus as long as I can, but I have not been appointed ambassador yet."
"Over these years, the U.S. and Azerbaijan have long and successfully worked on the issues of democracy in Azerbaijan," he said.Advisor of U.S. Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Bryza, was appointed the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement in June 2006, replacing Steven Mann in this post.
In early June, Foreign Policy Magazine reported that the U.S. Congress holds informal consultations on the possible nomination of Matthew Bryza to the post of ambassador to Azerbaijan.
"There is no information about my appointment as an ambassador," Bryza told journalists in Moscow before the meeting of Serj Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev in July.
Bryza added that if such an appointment will be made, he would like to work in one of the countries of South Caucasus.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.