Cheney Visits Azerbaijan On European Swing

James Joyner | September 03, 2008

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Azerbaijan today on the first leg of a trip that will take him to Georgia, Ukraine, and Italy.

CNN reports that Cheney will meet Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to "iscuss recent events neighboring Georgia, along with Azerbaijan's cooperation in the war on terrorism and its troop contributions in Iraq and Afghanistan" and will also meet with local representatives of BP and Chevron to discuss matters of enegy security.

In Georgia, Cheney is scheduled to meet with President Mikheil Saakashvili to discuss the current crisis with Russia and look "beyond the immediate situation and discuss in depth the need for a comprehensive long-term strategy by the international community to help Georgia recover and rebuild, including the critical task of supporting the democratic choice of the Georgian people to integrate further with Euro-Atlantic institutions, including NATO," a senior administration official says.

The visit to Italy will include an address to the Ambrosetti Forum on the challenges facing the transatlantic alliance and meeting with both Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and President Giorgio Napolitano.