Paul J. Saunders

Paul J. Saunders, Executive Director of the Nixon Center in Washington believes that, the US priorities in its relationship with Azerbaijan have not changed.

Mr. Saunders brought the attention to US interests in Azerbaijan. He reminded that, Washington is deeply engaged in the regional problems, including Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, tensions between Russia and Georgia and etc.

However, according to Director of Nixon Center, sometimes US is focused on more “problematic areas”, like Afghanistan, Iraq and this creates an impression that the States don't care about other regions, which is incorrect.

Mr. Saunders reminded that, in Azerbaijan US have priorities for cooperation in the spheres of terrorism, energy security and other issue. Meanwhile, there are believes in Washington that, without solving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict there is no way to create long tern plans in the region.

"This issue should be over seen not from individual but from regional perspective. As a practical matter, Washington is sharing his targets with regional partners. This is understandable, resources are limited and U.S. officials need to make decisions about their directions "- he stressed.

American analyst also pointed out that, as far as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unresolved, the regional countries will be restricted from their economic targets, wide scale projects, long tern stability and international guarantee. The Russian-Georgia war showed this problem in an open angle.

Mr. Saunders believes that, it is possible to solve the problems in Caucasus, if all parties have a good will to do it. According to him, parties to the conflicts must decide for themselves their problems not expecting any influence from the outside.

APA