“I'm very optimistic about what we're seeing in the region in the South Caucasus, but specifically with U. S.-Azerbaijani relations, senior fellow at Hudson Institute Luke Coffey told AZERTAC.

“I think it's long overdue that we have a new focus, a new energy on this bilateral relationship. And I think what we saw on August 8th with President Trump in the White House marks this new starting point. I think there's plenty of areas, whether it's economics, business, trade, or energy, where the U. S. and Azerbaijan have a lot of overlapping interests. And I hope that going forward we can see closer cooperation between our two countries,” Coffey underlined.

“I think one of the most important things, and the easiest thing that could be done would be for President Trump to visit Azerbaijan. No president has visited Azerbaijan. It would be great if Secretary Rubio would visit as well. The last Secretary of State to visit was Hillary Clinton in 2012. So, the most immediate thing we can do is start showing up to the region and then get the two leaders together and figure out the best path forward to enhance this relationship,” Luke Coffey added.

Malahat Najafova

Special Correspondent