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YEREVAN, 27 June. /ARKA/. The United States seeks to ensure that the export of goods from Central Asia goes not through Russia and China, but through alternative routes, including Azerbaijan, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien told a press hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Russian news agency Tass reported./pp
This applies to the whole region, Central Asia, all these countries' exports to world markets now only go through China and Russia. For a bypass, they need to cooperate with Azerbaijan, he said, referring to the goals of his trip to Baku scheduled for today./pp
One route goes through Georgia to the Black Sea, but another, potentially larger route, would go through Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey, and for those reasons we need a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the diplomat explained./pp
O'Brien added that during his visit to Azerbaijan on 27 June he will convey to the Azerbaijani president that the time has come to make peace.-0-/p
