Matthew Bryza: Security, energy and internal reforms will be U.S. priorities in Azerbaijan

In his activities, the new U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza determines security, energy cooperation and internal reforms as priority spheres.

"The U.S. believes it has increased sense of shares in strategic interests with friends from Azerbaijan in security, energy and internal reform," the ambassador said in an interview with Trend on Friday.

Bryza was appointed by President Obama in December last year and took the oath in January. His appointment to the post of an ambassador to Baku caused long debates in the U.S. Senate.

"In security, no issue is more important than helping the parties find a peaceful settlement on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," said Bryza.

2011 is an important year in energy cooperation, he said.

"In this year, we hope to see companies and countries developing the Southern Corridor finalize their agreements to allow the investors here in Azerbaijan to commit a large amount of money up to $20 billion for the next stage of natural gas development," said the ambassador.

The Southern Corridor Project aims to transport energy resources from the Caspian region to the EU. The project envisages construction of several pipelines, including Nabucco, ITGI, White Stream and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

"And those projects when they come together will do a great deal in strengthening Azerbaijan's strategic connections to Europe and help Europe even more secure diversify its sources of natural gas," Bryza said.

"It is in fact ultimately through democracy and democratic evolution that long-term stability is born," the ambassador said.

"The long debate [on appointing an ambassador] has to do with our democratic system, Bryza said. The system works what it is supposed to work."

He said there are some people in the U.S. who were concerned about aspects of his candidacy. "However, President Obama exercised his constitutional right in authority to appoint me and I am very grateful for it," he said.

And I would underscore by so doing he demonstrated how important Azerbaijan-US relations are, the ambassador added.


/Trend/