BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The United States is expanding diplomatic and military contacts in the former Soviet nations bordering the Caspian.
Azerbaijani news agency AssA-Irada reported from Baku Sept. 20 that Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has met U.S. European Command Deputy Commander General William Ward.
Aliyev told Ward of his belief that relations between Azerbaijan and the United States are improving on many levels, a trend that he hoped would continue
Ward in turn noted that he was paying his first visit to Azerbaijan, a country that the Bush administration increasingly regarded as a stable strategic partner in an unstable region. Commenting on the increasing depth of U.S.-Azerbaijani relations, Ward alluded to the success of Aliyev's visit to Washington last April, which both Azerbaijan and the United States regarded as a diplomatic success.
Since 1994 Azerbaijan has been a key participant in NATO's Partnership for Peace project, designed to create trust between NATO and former Soviet states. A number of former Soviet and Eastern European states have used PfP membership for a springboard for eventual NATO membership.
