On July 12, the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev who is on visit in Turkey to participate in the opening ceremony of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline met with the USA deputy energy minister Clay Shell, USA deputy state secretary on energy issues Steven Mann, American co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Mathew Bryza. During the meeting, Halbert delivered the greeting of USA president George Bush to Aliyev, Trend reports with reference to Public TV.
The meetings focused on the regional questions including realization of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. Shell noted that USA attaches a great interest to the pipeline. The project will increase the role of Azerbaijan in energy security and ensure the cooperation in realization of global projects. Aliyev noted that the realization of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project will be a new stage in the energy sector, mentioning the role of the USA in realization of the project.
On the same day, Aliyev met with Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili who arrived in Turkey to participate in the opening ceremony of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
Then, Aliyev met with his Turkish colleague Ahmad Hejdat Sezer and Turkish prime minister Rajab Tayyub Ardogan.
Then, three-sided talks were held between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Georgia and Turkish primer.