Opinion of Azeri political analyst

Azeri political analyst Rustam Shakhsuvarov thinks that in the near future a framework agreement on the Karabakh issue can be reached. This will be of a general character and its details will be subject to follow up negotiations. This would be the first step in resolving this issue as all sides are interested in doing this.

Shakhsuvarov suggests that nobody needs the Karabakh conflict at the moment as it hinders the development of geopolitical and geo-economical plans in the region. However during the negotiations all sides will naturally be trying to gain as much benefit as possible.

Concerning the balance of forces in the Caucasus region analysts suggest that the USA and Russia will compete to achieve the greater influence in the South Caucasus. In the North Caucasus Russia will take the most serious measures to strengthen its governance and influence so it is able to compete with the USA in the South Caucasus. Russia could further benefit economically through increasing its cooperation with Turkey and Azerbaijan.