"The financial aid allocated by the US Senate Committee on Appropriations is meant for people who suffer from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta told reporters on July 19.
According to the ambassador, the aid provided to Azerbaijan has now reached $115 million.
APA quotes Cekuta as saying, "As for the Nagorno-Karabakhconflict, I would like to say that the existence of the conflict is indeed a deplorable fact. And the aid is an allowance meant merely for people suffering from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict." He said that the US activity on the conflict focuses on "delivering aid to people suffering from this conflict. And the other is the direction in which James Warlick, the US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, is working. He is working a lot in this direction, trying to bring together the two governments within the OSCE Minsk Group in a bid to organize negotiations on a peaceful solution to the conflict." When asked what criteria are taken into account when allocating financial aid and why this aid is provided to Nagorno-Karabakh only, while there are so many conflict zones worldwide badly in need of support, the ambassador said "In this regard, we approach issues in an individual style. We're providing assistance Georgia, too. We just have a different approach. We likewise continue providing aid to Moldova, Africa, and Ukraine".
The diplomat also pointed out that the US and Azerbaijan have been cooperating in defense for many years.
To recall, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has recently voiced its continued support for direct U.S. aid to Nagorno Karabakh, a program that has, with bipartisan backing, provided humanitarian aid to the citizens of Nagorno Karabakh since 1998. The Appropriations Committee, in a departure from a recent trend away from setting country-specific aid levels, made specific recommendation of $20.06 million in economic aid to Armenia, $1.7 million in foreign military financing and $600,000 for International Military Education and Training (IMET). Azerbaijan and Georgia were allocated $8.778 million and $54 million in economic assistance, respectively.