OFFICIAL NEWS
ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN, NAGORNY KARABAKH CONFLICT SHOULD BE SETTLED ON THE BASE OF THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL NORMS
PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV RECEIVES THE US CO-CHAIR OF THE OSCE MINSK GROUP
President Ilham Aliyev congratulated the diplomat on the new appointment and wished him every success in this office. He noted as well that Mr. Mann is well known in Azerbaijan as a direct participator in the large-scale projects implemented in the country. Your related activities were very positive and successful. I am well aware of this personally as we were working together. The regionally important Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project is being successfully realized, and I hope your activity in this new office will also be a success, said the Head of State.
President Ilham Aliyev further stressed the large threat the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorny Karabakh poses to the regional stability, and noted that Azerbaijan wants the problem to be settled in the framework of the international legal norms as soon as possible. “Nagorny Karabakh and 7 other regions of Azerbaijan has been under occupation for many years; our fair demand is to put an end to the occupation and restore our territorial integrity. I hope the Minsk group will continue its activities as a result of which the problem will be finally solved,” Mr. Ilham Aliyev said.
Having expressed his satisfaction with this visit to Baku and the opportunity to meet President Ilham Aliyev, Mr. Steven Mann reminded on his participation in the ceremony of laying foundation of the East-West energy corridor held in the Azerbaijan capital, and emphasized that it is exactly the place, where all the rest of energy projects start.
Touching upon the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr. Steven Mann announced the new tasks set to him by the U.S. Government that he was going to fulfill: to work with the conflicting parties and achieve fair resolution of the problem.
In conclusion, Mr. Steven Mann thanked President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for the warm meeting.
The meeting was attended by Chief of the Presidential Administration’s Foreign Relations Department Mr. Novruz Mammadov and U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mr. Reno Harnish.