Azerbaijan-U.S. Economic Partnership Gets Boost
With Second Washington Forum
A delegation led by Finance Minister Samir Sharifov was in Washington, D.C. this week for the second session of the U.S.-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission on economic partnership.
The Nov. 17 session included an agenda focusing on ways in which to deepen cooperation in the sphere of trade, investments, energy and transport between the countries. Participants also discussed the implementation of projects sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency that provide technical assistance to Azerbaijan.
“Trade is one of the significant elements in our economic cooperation,” Minister Sharifov said in opening remarks at the meeting. “While our trade turnover reached almost $2 billion last year, we intend to further increase and diversify its volume and content.”
Minister Sharifov also expressed hope that Azerbaijan will be granted the status of “beneficiary country” under the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences, and said that he looks forward to the opening of a U.S. Trade Office in Baku in the near future.
The first session of the U.S.-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission on economic partnership was held in Baku in February 2007. The U.S. co-chairman of the commission is Deputy Secretary of State Daniel Sullivan.
Report: U.S. Seeks New Supply Route
to Afghanistan Through Azerbaijan
The Washington Post reported this week that Azerbaijan may become part of a vital overland transport route for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Amid growing attacks on truck convoys near the Khyber Pass along Afghanistan’s southern supply line, U.S. defense officials have struck an agreement with Georgia and talks are ongoing with Azerbaijan and other countries for the new route, the Post reports.
Azerbaijan already provides a vital airspace corridor to U.S. and NATO military aircraft on their way to and from Afghanistan, as well as landing and refueling services.
The Nov. 18 article said that a rise in Taliban attacks along the length of a vital NATO supply route that runs across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has U.S. officials seeking alternatives, including the prospect of deliveries by an overland journey from Europe.
The growing danger of the Kyber Pass route has forced the Pentagon to seek far longer, but possibly safer, alternate routes through Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, according to Defense Department documents, the Post reported. A notice to potential contractors by the U.S. Transportation Command in September said that security concerns and delays pose “a significant risk” to supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan.
A reliable supply route is considered vital to sustaining the approximately 67,000 foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan, including 32,000 Americans. Nearly half of U.S. forces operate under NATO command.
Attacks on convoys moving from Pakistan into Afghanistan in recent months have cost NATO suppliers millions in losses this year, the report said, including one in which insurgents made off with military helicopter engines valued at $13 million.
The article says the Pentagon is calling the proposed supply line through Azerbaijan the “new northern route.” Under the plan, supplies would be moved by contractors under armed guard.
Separately, the Pentagon's Transportation Command is also seeking contractors who could move an estimated 50,000 rail containers a year over a new Europe-Caucasus route.
Azerbaijan, which is positioning itself as both a major supplier and transit route for energy sources to global markets, has seen large increases in oil and gas pumped through its pipelines so far this year.
Azerbaijani karate competitor Rafael Aghayev claimed his second gold medal in the 19th World Championship in Tokyo on Nov. 16, becoming a three-time world champion.