The US is ready to cooperate with Azerbaijan in the areas of democracy, human rights, regional security, Internet security, and others, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said Feb. 17.

She made the remarks at a meeting with the members of the civil society in Baku, the editor-in-chief of the recently closed newspaper Zerkalo, Elchin Shikhli, who attended the meeting, told Trend.

Nuland is visiting Baku as part of her tour to the countries in the South Caucasus.

Shikhli said that during the short meeting, Nuland stated about the US readiness to work with Azerbaijani government on a number of directions.

“The meeting with Nuland didn’t last long. During 15-20 minutes, we discussed a number of issues,” said Shikhli. “At the meeting, Nuland said the US is interested in cooperation with Azerbaijan. She noted that the US is ready to cooperate with Azerbaijan in the spheres of democracy, human rights and regional security.”

“Nuland said the US is ready to work with Azerbaijan in this direction, and in this regard a particular activity is already underway,” Shikhli added.

It should be noted that earlier the Working Group on Human Rights resumed its work in Azerbaijan.

The head of the department on work with law-enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan’s presidential administration, Fuad Alasgarov and head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, Samad Seyidov were elected the co-chairs of the working group.

Human rights activists Seadet Benenyarli and Sahib Mammadov were elected the secretaries of the working group.

The working group’s members, citing the memorandum on creation of the group, signed 2005, confirmed the Azerbaijani society’s intention to effectively address human rights issues through dialogue with civil society.

More about: