WASHINGTON, DC. April 27, 2012: Ross Wilson, former US ambassador in Azerbaijan, who currently chairs the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, answered TURAN's Wasington DC correspondent Alakbar Raufoglu’s questions regarding the Prezident Obama's decision to nominate Richard Morningstar az the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan.
How do you think President Obama's nomination of an Ambassador to Azerbaijan will impact the current US-Azeri relations? What will be the challenges for Ambassador Morningstar in Baku?
Richard Morningstar will be an excellent American ambassador to Azerbaijan. He will restore strong senior leadership, will be able better to organize US diplomacy to support an effective bilateral relationship, and will represent us well with the broader public. His challenges will be the main issues on the bilateral agenda, which will not get any easier, of course. I am confident he will handle them exceptionally well.
How do you see the process of this appointment? Will the Senate appoint him?
The Senate confirmation process always takes longer and is more complicated than one might wish. However, Ambassador Morningstar is well known and favorably regarded among both Republicans and Democrats, and I hope very much the Senate acts quickly on the president's nomination.
What are the pluses and minuses on this appointment for Azerbaijan? It's not secret that Amb. Morningstar has played an extraordinary role in building the energy relationship between the US and Azerbaijan. Does his nomination show that the energy becomes the top of the US priorities in Azerbaijan?
Ambassador Morningstar will bring extensive experience to Baku, including his two stints as Caspian energy envoy and his previous role in the Clinton Administration as Special Advisor to the President and the Secretary of State and Coordinator of US Assistance to the states of the former Soviet Union. In the latter role, Ambassador Morningstar was deeply involved in bilateral US-Azeri relations and in the management of US interests with all the states of the region. This equips him exceptionally well to play a positive role for the United States in Azerbaijan.
This nomination comes right at the end of Barack Obama's first presidency. The current US Administration has been represented in Azerbaijan just for one year. When the relations between the two countries cooled at the beginning on Obama Administration's term, Baku officials explanation centered around the view that the Democrat Administration was less interested in Azerbaijan rather than Armenia. Now, that the President Obama has nominated a high-ranking official as an ambassador to Azerbaijan - is there any mismatch here? Do you feel like the previous tensions between the two countries are left behind now?
The nomination of Ambassador Morningstar is a healthy signal for US-Azerbaijan relations (Turan).
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