Azeri Press Agency
April 30, 2022

Erika Olson: “No one has been a greater supporter of Azerbaijan’s independence than the United States over the last thirty years”

Interview of US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State overseeing policy for Southern Europe and the Caucasus Erika Olson to APA.

[No] one has been a greater supporter of Azerbaijan’s independence than the United States over the last thirty years.

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Looking back over the last thirty years, I think, one of the things that we are most proud of is how we were able to work together in terms of developing the Southern Energy Corridor. And that really was a project that came about with the creativity, the motivation, and partnership between the United States and Azerbaijan….

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…You ask what the United States is doing and how engaging, we partnering very closely with the European Union and we have had the Special Representative for the Caucasus from the European Union in the United States earlier this month, he will be there again as part of the Georgia process we will be hosting a meeting in Washington on that later next week.

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I think also looking ways through US expertise and experience, for instance, border demarcation and delimitation….

I think one of the things I have been struck by since I started this job and have really been working on increasing US engagement in the region. Because this is something that we heard in Georgia, we heard here, in Baku, also in Yerevan, really desire for the United States to be present in the region. We have been very focused on that.

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The one thing that I want to highlight is that Andrew Schofer has always been in that position, had the title of Special Negotiator for Caucasus conflicts, as well as the US representative on the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

He has been involved throughout, I mention, Georgia and in the process of trying to help with South Ossetia and Abkhazia and the future of that and involved in those conversations.

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…This question of the US in the region, in the security of the region, we remain absolutely and fully dedicated as a partner and as an ally when it comes to Transatlantic security.

One of the things we have seen is amazing unity within the NATO alliance and you do not have to go back too far to find some leaders talking about NATO being dead. I think we now have a very clear answer that the alliance is more important now than has ever been.

You asked about the question of the region of former Soviet space, I think that you have seen in the Caucasus region the increased engagement and increased focus by the United States….