Read-out of President Obama’s meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev

President Obama met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in New York today to discuss issues of shared interest and ways to further strengthen relations between our two nations.

President Obama expressed his appreciation for Azerbaijan’s contributions to supporting the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.  He reaffirmed strong U.S. support for the OSCE Minsk Group process to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the ceasefire along the Line of Contact and stressing the need to find a peaceful solution based on the Helsinki principles of non-use of force or threat of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples.  The leaders also discussed regional security issues and ongoing energy cooperation.

In the context of President Obama’s speech at the UN yesterday, he expressed his hope that Azerbaijan as a young democracy would implement democratic reforms and increase protections for human rights, including by releasing two jailed bloggers.   The President noted that strong institutions contribute to fostering economic growth and stability in Azerbaijan and both leaders expressed a desire to develop closer ties between our two countries.