Barack Obama announced new ambassador to Azerbaijan

The President has nominated Matthew Bryza as U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, according to a statement posted on the official site of the White House. Bryza's appointment is to be confirmed by the US Senate.

Matthew J. Bryza is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of European and Eurasian Affairs. He previously served as the Director for Europe and Eurasia at the National Security Council in the White House.

He was also Special Advisor to the President and Secretary of State on Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy. Bryza has also served in Russia and Poland. He received a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.A. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

In 2006-2009, Matthew Bryza served as U.S. co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The post of U.S. Ambassador in Baku has been vacant since the previous ambassador, Ann Derse, left it in connection with the completion of a term, in July 2009.


/Whitehouse.gov/