U.S. high-ranking official arrives in Baku
By Sara Rajabova
Victoria Nuland, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs arrived in Baku on February 16.
Nuland is in Baku to meet with senior government officials to work to strengthen bilateral relations on trade and investment, energy diversification, security and counter-terrorism, and democracy and civil society, according to a message posted on official Facebook page of the U.S. Embassy in Baku.
The U.S. official will also discuss advancing a just and lasting settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which emerged in 1988 over Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.
Nuland will also meet with representatives from civil society groups.
After visiting Baku, Nuland will travel to Tbilisi, Georgia, on February 17 for meetings with senior Georgian government officials, opposition political figures, and civil society representatives to discuss a broad range of bilateral and regional issues, including Georgia’s path toward European integration and Georgia’s efforts to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Afterwards, on February 18, Nuland will travel to Yerevan, Armenia, where she will meet with senior government officials, civil society groups, and youth representatives to discuss strengthening the political, economic, and people-to-people ties with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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