Azernews.Az

BAKU – The newly appointed US ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza was sworn in on Thursday in Washington, the spokesman for the US embassy in Baku Keith Bean has said.

The closed-door ceremony was attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Undersecretary of State William Burns, and Azerbaijani Ambassador to the U.S. Yashar Aliyev.

Bryza is due to arrive in Azerbaijan in early February.

President Barack Obama on December 29 bypassed the usual Senate confirmation process to appoint four new envoys whose nominations had been held up, including Bryza. The appointment, which had been stalled by lawmakers for months, was welcomed by Baku.

So-called recess appointments are temporary, lasting only until the end of the next session of Congress, which is due in November or December.

According to Bean, the White House has again sent Bryza’s candidacy to the Senate for approval. If his appointment is approved at the next hearing, Bryza will head the US diplomatic mission in Azerbaijan for the full three-year term, the embassy spokesman said.

Bryza served as deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs and represented the U.S. on the OSCE-brokered talks on settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.