France, Paris, 11 November / Trend corr. A.Maharramli / Relations between Azerbaijan and the United States will develop systematically during the office term of the new U.S. Administration, Azerbaijan believes.
"I see good prospects to develop the relations between Azerbaijan and the United States," Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Hafiz Pashayev said to Trend on 11 November.
Democrats' candidate Senator Barack Obama won the presidential election of 4 November by a landslide over the Republicans' candidate Senator John McCain and became the 44th President of the United States. The inauguration ceremony of the first black U.S. President will take place on 20 January 2009.
Baku and Washington stated that strategic cooperation has been established between Azerbaijan and the United States. The links between the two countries will develop in the same format, Pashayev said.
"I do not believe the prospects of development will deteriorate. The current relations meet the interests of both countries and this is the source of my optimism," he said.
The U.S. position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is known to all, Pashayev said adding that "this position is unchangeable".
The United States is a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, which mediates in settling of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and Nagorno-Karabakh's seven surrounding regions. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The countries keep on peace negotiating.
OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by USA, Russia, and France is engaged in peaceable solution of the conflict.
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