The Voice of America reports that in Washington the following topics were discussed on south Caucasus: the US policy in the South Caucasus, Russia’s role in the regional balance of power, the prospects for peace efforts in Nagorno-Karabakh and the EU Southern Corridor.
Program director of the Jamestown Foundation Margarita Assenova noted the growing control of Gazprom over energy channels in the Black Sea-Caspian region, in particular the implementation of project “South Stream”, the construction of which started last week – 7 December and should be completed in 2015. “South Stream”, designed for the delivery of Russian gas to Europe, bypassing Turkey and Ukraine, is competing with “Nabucco” project, which is supported by the U.S. and EU.
Director of British Petroleum for Foreign Affairs Greg Saunders stressed that development of field “Shah Deniz” in Azerbaijan is one of the most significant projects of BP in Eurasia.
Senior Fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University, David Merkel noted that Russia remains a key factor in the Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, and in the development of the situation in the conflict zone. The expert believes that for progress in the peace scenario, the West and the U.S. in particular, can play a decisive role in the condition of “high-level intervention in the peace process”.
“Moscow should accept the prospect of maintaining the status quo. Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one area where the “reset” policy can be effectively used by the Obama administration,” he said.
