Azerbaijan, Baku /corr Trend E.Huseynov / Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will sign a U.S.Azerbaijan Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Security Co-operation in the Caspian Region today on March 22 in the US Department of State.
The agreement marks the intention of the Governments of the United States and Azerbaijan to set up top-level discussions on energy security in the Caspian region co-chaired by the U.S. Department of State and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. The top-level discussions aim to deepen and broaden the already strong co-operation amongst the governments and companies to expand oil and gas production in Azerbaijan for export into global markets. Particular focus will be the input of Azerbaijani gas into the Turkey-Greece-Italy gas pipeline, and potentially the Nabucco pipeline and other pipelines, in order to assist Europe bolster its energy security by diversifying its natural gas supplies.
This Memorandum of Understanding forms an important element in our growing partnership with Azerbaijan, which includes co-operation on energy, democratic and market economic reform as well as security.