The United States hopes for quick progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, US Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon stated in the Senate, APA reported.
On May 18th, Mr. Gordon participated in Senate Foreign Relations Committee Testimony on "The Administration Priorities for Europe in the 112th Congress”. Senator Jeanne Shaheen has chaired the hearing.
“We strongly believe that the time has come to finalize and endorse the Basic Principles and move to the drafting of a peace agreement”, he said commenting on Nagorno-Karabakh peace negotiations.
“We will continue to increase our engagement through the Minsk Group with Russia and France to help Armenia and Azerbaijan find a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict”.
Mr. Gordon mentioned that, the US actively engaged on Nagorno-Karabakh issue and stands ready to help in any way that it can.
Assistant Secretary also stressed that South Caucasus, Middle East, Iran’s nuclear program and other regional problems - are one of the directions of US-EU cooperation.
“Our joint efforts with the European Union and other international partners in the Caucasus region have resulted in progress, but disputes over territory and a need for further meaningful political and economic reforms remain serious obstacles to greater stability”, he stressed adding, in Georgia, America’s steadfast engagement and generous assistance have aided in transforming Georgia into an aspiring democracy and important partner to NATO in Afghanistan.
“Together with our European partners, we will maintain our support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders and will continue to support international efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the dispute over Abkhazia and South Ossetia”.
Elsewhere in the region, US will continue to encourage normalization between Turkey and Armenia.
“We believe that the United States and Europe must work together to avoid further conflict in Europe and help the countries in the region move towards democracy, peace, and greater prosperity” he added.
Assistant secretary also mentioned that US foreign assistance investments remain an important instrument in advancing the European zone of peace, prosperity and democracy.
“There have been reductions to the region’s assistance budget in the Administration’s FY 2012 Request. They are the result of the achievement of some assistance goals in the region and of the particularly difficult budget climate in which we find ourselves. In future decisions on resource allocations, we will continue to take account of vital long-term US interests in this region”.
Speaking about the US reset policy with Russia, Mr. Gordon mentioned that the “challenges remain”. “However, we can now say that our engagement with Russia can help with America’s security and our global priorities”.
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