Bush writes to Aliyev

The US ambassador to Azerbaijan Ross Wilson passed a letter from President George Bush to President Aliyev as the two met Monday.

"Through this letter, President Bush would like to reaffirm his support for the close and productive relations with Azerbaijan. He has also reiterated the firm US support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan", the ambassador said. He then indicated that President Bush welcomes Azerbaijan's acceptance to the Council of Europe and views this as a landmark event for Azerbaijan, which opens up broad opportunities in terms of integration with the Euro-Atlantic community.

The letter says further that President Bush considers the peace settlement of the Garabagh conflict as a key priority of his Administration, welcomes the upcoming meeting of Azerbaijan and Armenian presidents in Paris and states that the US will continue its active involvement in the peace process. At the same time, President Bush emphasized that Azeri and Armenian presidents and people are to make a tough choice in order to achieve peace.

The US President then hailed the progress attained in implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan MEP and voiced a hope that positive results would be achieved by the gas pipeline to be laid from Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia as well, Ambassador Wilson said.

President Aliyev said he was pleased to receive the letter, saying he was ready for comprehensive cooperation with the US Administration. "President Bush's statement that the US will continue contributing to a negotiated settlement of the conflict, as well as his ideas concerning the joint work of the Minsk Group co-chairs, sound very reassuring ", President Aliyev said. The President pledged to carefully read the letter and answer it soon.*