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Azeri daily reflects on reasons behind US general's "unexpected" visit
Ekspress, Baku
11 Jun 04
The deputy commander of the US European Command, Gen Charles Wald,
paid an unexpected visit to Baku yesterday morning [10 June]. The
US embassy in Azerbaijan told Ekspress newspaper that the delegation
accompanying the Pentagon official had included 70 American civilian
representatives and business leaders who are members of the Joint
Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC).
[Passage omitted: about the JCOC programme and reported details]
Why did Wald come to Azerbaijan? According to official reports,
one might answer the question as follows. The visit by the Pentagon
official aimed at ''inspecting" the implementation of joint programmes
between the European Command and Azerbaijan and looking into the
preparations for NATO's Cooperative Best Effort 2004 exercises. In
any case, one should admit that the visit to our country by such
a high-ranking Pentagon general as the deputy commander of the US
European Command in Stuttgart is not limited to the ''inspection of
cooperation programmes'' only. Moreover, the importance of the visit
for Washington is obvious, bearing in mind that it was Wald's second
visit to Azerbaijan in the past two months.
So it was clear from the brief statement which Wald made in Azerbaijan
that the USA is concerned about the state of security programmes in
the region (concretely, security issues and the protection of oil
pipelines). However, this might be understood as a gesture by the
Pentagon to show its presence in the region, since the concern was
expressed at the same time as the five-sided working group on Caspian
status was holding its summit in Astana. Moreover, by declaring the
creation of a special group to carry out US programmes on the South
Caucasus, Wald showed that the White House did not intend to hold
back from projects on the Caspian.
To recap, at the working group's Astana meeting Russia and Kazakhstan
suggested the creation of "a military balance" in the sea and a ban
on the entry of "foreign forces" to the Caspian.
Finally, let us recall that Wald, who visited Yerevan some time ago,
regarded as necessary the participation of Armenian officers in the
NATO exercises due in Azerbaijan this autumn and said that he had
received official Baku's guarantee on the issue. It is no coincidence
that the US general's sudden visit coincided with Yerevan officially
expressing its intention to attend the NATO conference in June and
saying that it would approach the Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia
over this issue on 12 June. It seems that the Pentagon general had
to visit Azerbaijan again in order to ''resolve the issue on the spot".
[Passage omitted: Azerbaijan ex-foreign policy adviser positive
on visit]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Ekspress, Baku
11 Jun 04
The deputy commander of the US European Command, Gen Charles Wald,
paid an unexpected visit to Baku yesterday morning [10 June]. The
US embassy in Azerbaijan told Ekspress newspaper that the delegation
accompanying the Pentagon official had included 70 American civilian
representatives and business leaders who are members of the Joint
Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC).
[Passage omitted: about the JCOC programme and reported details]
Why did Wald come to Azerbaijan? According to official reports,
one might answer the question as follows. The visit by the Pentagon
official aimed at ''inspecting" the implementation of joint programmes
between the European Command and Azerbaijan and looking into the
preparations for NATO's Cooperative Best Effort 2004 exercises. In
any case, one should admit that the visit to our country by such
a high-ranking Pentagon general as the deputy commander of the US
European Command in Stuttgart is not limited to the ''inspection of
cooperation programmes'' only. Moreover, the importance of the visit
for Washington is obvious, bearing in mind that it was Wald's second
visit to Azerbaijan in the past two months.
So it was clear from the brief statement which Wald made in Azerbaijan
that the USA is concerned about the state of security programmes in
the region (concretely, security issues and the protection of oil
pipelines). However, this might be understood as a gesture by the
Pentagon to show its presence in the region, since the concern was
expressed at the same time as the five-sided working group on Caspian
status was holding its summit in Astana. Moreover, by declaring the
creation of a special group to carry out US programmes on the South
Caucasus, Wald showed that the White House did not intend to hold
back from projects on the Caspian.
To recap, at the working group's Astana meeting Russia and Kazakhstan
suggested the creation of "a military balance" in the sea and a ban
on the entry of "foreign forces" to the Caspian.
Finally, let us recall that Wald, who visited Yerevan some time ago,
regarded as necessary the participation of Armenian officers in the
NATO exercises due in Azerbaijan this autumn and said that he had
received official Baku's guarantee on the issue. It is no coincidence
that the US general's sudden visit coincided with Yerevan officially
expressing its intention to attend the NATO conference in June and
saying that it would approach the Azerbaijani embassy in Georgia
over this issue on 12 June. It seems that the Pentagon general had
to visit Azerbaijan again in order to ''resolve the issue on the spot".
[Passage omitted: Azerbaijan ex-foreign policy adviser positive
on visit]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress