Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is visiting the United States to attend the UN General Assembly’s 65th session that started in New York on Tuesday.

President Aliyev on Wednesday held a meeting with US Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy Richard Morningstar. Discussions focused on Azerbaijan-U.S. energy cooperation and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh.

Philip Gordon, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, attended the meeting as well.

The Azerbaijani leader was expected to address the UN GA session on Thursday.

According to the UN website, political debates were to begin at the session today, to be joined by over 100 heads of state and government, and foreign ministers.

First, the session will be addressed by the Brazilian foreign minister and the US president. The statements will be followed by those of the leaders of Ukraine, Turkey, Kenya and Tajikistan. The presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Cameroon and Chile will deliver their speeches later in the day.

During the political discussions President Aliyev is expected to address the participants, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, Turkey’s Ihlas news agency reported.

President Aliyev is due to meet US President Barack Obama on Friday.

Tomris Azeri, head of the Azerbaijan Society of America (ASA), has told the Baku-based ANS TV channel that the two leaders are expected to table the appointment of former State Department official Matthew Bryza as the next US ambassador to Azerbaijan, a post that has been vacant for 14 months.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved President Obama’s nomination on Tuesday, but pro-Armenian Senator Barbara Boxer has vetoed tabling the appointment in the US Senate.

"This is not a good sign," the ASA head commented. "The same thing happened once with a would-be ambassador to Turkey...It is possible that another diplomat’s candidacy will be nominated for the post."

Back in 2006, Senator Robert Menendez exercised his veto power to block the appointment of Richard Hoagland as the US ambassador to Armenia after President Bush’s nominee did not term the 1915 developments in Ottoman Turkey as the alleged genocide of Armenians in his Senate address.