Baku, Washington in energy talks

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Steven Mann, is in Baku for energy talks. Several projects, including the trans-Caspian project will be discussed during the US official’s working visit.

Mann held meetings at the Foreign Ministry and the state oil company SOCAR on Monday. He also exchanged views on cooperation in the energy sector with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The United States backs the trans-Caspian project that envisions taking the hydrocarbons of Central Asia to Europe through the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan and the United States signed a grant agreement on development of the feasibility study of the project in August 2007.*