US - Azerbaijan security talks

From the APA:

US-Azerbaijan security talks will today start in Washington, APA’s US bureau reports.

The delegation headed by Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has already arrived in Washington. The delegation includes representatives of National Security Ministry, Defense Ministry, Border Troops, Emergencies Ministry and other state bodies.

Azeri delegation is scheduled to have meetings in the US Department of state and Pentagon. Along with the security talks the issue on Gabala radar station will be also discussed during the meetings.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Mathew Bryza and Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov will hold a press conference after meeting in the Department of State.
Official meetings will last for two days.

Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov will deliver a speech in Woodrow Wilson Center on the third day of the visit.

The event on “Azerbaijan’s security agenda” will be held on joint initiative of the center with Kennan University.

The Deputy Minister is expected to focus on the security issues and energy policy of the region.

The State Dept put out this today. I'll post a link to the transcript if and when it is available.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State Stephen D. Mull, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew J. Bryza, and Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov will jointly brief the press at 4:45 p.m. today, on the 10th annual U.S.-Azerbaijan Security Dialogue, a discussion seeking to deepen our bilateral security relationship in a multitude of areas. The briefing will be on the record, on camera, and will take place in the State Department Press Briefing Room, Room 2209.

This meeting is taking place at the same time as a multinational naval exercise in the Black Sea.

Ukrainian officials say Sea Breeze 2007, a multinational naval exercise, will start on July 9 in the Black Sea, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported.

Naval and land forces from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, and Turkey will join Ukrainian and U.S. forces in the two-week-long exercise.

In 2006, Sea Breeze exercises were cancelled because of protests by pro-Russian groups.

Stars and Stripes says:

Goals include developing better information-sharing practices, search-and-rescue operations, live-fire exercises, and maritime security activities, the release states. Ground forces will conduct nonlethal weapons and tactics training.

“During this exercise, sailors will literally stand on the decks of partner ships while they are under way and become familiar with the other navies’ operating procedures and practices,” U.S. Navy Capt. Chip Walter, exercise deputy commander, said in a statement.

“When they meet in the future to conduct combined peacekeeping or humanitarian operations, or to counter trafficking in drugs, weapons, or persons in this region, they will be better able to work together,” Walter said.

In March the US and Azerbaijan signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Security Cooperation in the Caspian Region. The State Dept said:

The agreement expresses the intention of the Governments of the United States and Azerbaijan to convene a high-level dialogue on energy security in the Caspian region co-chaired by the U.S. Department of State and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. The high-level dialogue will aim to deepen and broaden already strong cooperation among governments and companies to expand oil and gas production in Azerbaijan for export to global markets. Of particular focus will be realization of the Turkey-Greece-Italy gas pipeline, and potentially the Nabucco and other pipelines, with Azerbaijani gas, to help Europe bolster its energy security by diversifying its natural gas supplies. This Memorandum of Understanding forms an important element in our growing partnership with Azerbaijan, which includes cooperation on energy, democratic and market economic reform, and security.

Update: Here is a link to the transcript of the briefing with Acting Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Stephen D. Mull and Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew J. Bryza and Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov. Or, you can watch this video of the briefing.



Mr. Bryza explains why these talks are important.

Bryza: Ambassador Mull talked about the security aspect, obviously, of our cooperation, which is why we're here today. But the only other thing I'd like to say is we think that we have three sets of vital strategic interests with Azerbaijan, beginning with all the security interests that Ambassador Mull described. We also have, as the Deputy Minister just mentioned, deep shared interests in energy security.

Energy security means providing options, providing multiple transit routes and sources of energy supplies, especially natural gas. And Azerbaijan is now emerging as one of the great producers of natural gas anywhere and certainly, one of the most readily available supplies of natural gas to help Europe diversify and therefore, develop genuinely reliable sources of this most vital commodity. So we have shared security interests, we have shared energy interests, and finally, we have a shared interest in reform, reform that aims to expand political and economic freedom through democratic and market economic reform and also military reform.

And in fact, military reform and democratic reform are inextricably linked when it comes to a country's aspirations to deepen its ties to the Euro-Atlantic community. So we've talked about a full range of issues today and we believe that ultimately, to have a real partnership with Azerbaijan, one that will be stable for the long term and deeper for the long term, we need to make progress in all three of those sets of strategic interests at the same time.