Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to join my colleagues in welcoming Ambassador Cornelissen back to the Permanent Council and thanking him for his report and briefing on his mission’s work in Azerbaijan.

We appreciate his review of the OSCE Office's activities with respect to human rights, economic issues and the political situation in Azerbaijan.

We believe that under his leadership the OSCE Baku office is making significant progress since it was formed less than a year ago.

As a new member of the Council of Europe, a great deal of work lies ahead in bringing Azerbaijan's legislation into conformity with that organization’s standards.

Ambassador Cornelissen highlighted a number of areas including media freedom, political prisoners and NGO activities where both the OSCE as well as the States around this table need to remain engaged in dialogue with the Government of Azerbaijan to promote continued reform and continued adherence to OSCE commitments.

The United States remains concerned by the Government of Azerbaijan's human rights record as reflected in our most recent human rights report.

We welcome continued work on human rights issues by the OSCE office in Baku.

We also welcome Ambassador Cornelissen's efforts to consult and coordinate activities with embassies in Baku of OSCE States and we look forward to future briefings on the OSCE-related work in Azerbaijan.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.