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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000159 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2017 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ETRD AJ EAIR SNAR EXBS
SUBJECT: USCBP DEPUTY ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER AUDREY ADAMS' 
VISIT TO AZERBAIJAN 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Anne E. Derse, reasons 1.4 (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) 
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Audrey Adams and a three person 
delegation visited Azerbaijan from January 15-18, 2007.  They 
held conversations with the State Border Service and State 
Customs Committee on possibilities for enhanced cooperation. 
The most important result of the meeting was the agreement in 
principle by the State Customs Committee to accept and fund a 
U.S. CBP Advisors to work with the Azerbaijani State Customs 
Committee on helping to modernize the Azerbaijani Customs 
Service.  A similar offer was politely turned down by the 
SBS.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) USCBP Deputy Assistant Commissioner for 
International Affairs Audrey Adams, accompanied by three U.S. 
Customs officials, along with Ambassador and EXBS Baku 
Director, met with Azerbaijani Customs officials and State 
Border Service officials on January 15-18.  The meetings were 
introductory in nature and expressed the desire, especially 
on the customs side, to deepen the strategic and operational 
relationship with the U.S. CBP service.  The group also 
visited the Samur and Shirvanovka border crossings on the 
Azerbaijan-Dagestan border, the Silk Road terminal, the State 
Border Service Air Wing, the Customs Training facility, and a 
cargo and passenger ferry terminal. 
 
CUSTOMS 
------- 
 
¶3.  (C) State Customs Committee Chairman Aydin Aliyev, 
accompanied by a large delegation of nine senior Customs 
officials, warmly received Adams on January 15 and signaled a 
genuine desire to deepen the level of cooperation between the 
U.S. and Azerbaijani Customs Services.  Included on the 
Azerbaijani side were several Customs officers responsible 
for information technology, as well as Aliyev,s chief of 
internal affairs, Rovshan Mustayev, who is responsible for 
granting clearances or investigating corruption in the 
Customs service.  The inclusion of these people in the 
delegation was notable as it seemed to send a signal that 
Aliyev wants to modernize his service through technology and 
work against corruption.  Meetings with the customs service 
usually do not include such a large number of people from the 
Azerbaijani side. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) During the meeting, Adams presented the idea of 
having a U.S. CBP advisor cooperate directly with Azerbaijani 
Customs and advise on issues of modernization, technology, 
etc.  The goal of the advisor would be to make customs more 
efficient and to keep the supply chain uninterrupted; Adams 
noted that the advisor program would be similar to USCBP 
programs in other countries.  She also noted that such an 
advisory program would be fully reimbursable by the GOAJ. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Aliyev did not respond directly to Adams' proposal 
to provide  a U.S. CBP advisor full-time in Azerbaijan in the 
January 15 meeting but he talked about his goals for the 
service, which include (a) implementing the new Customs Code; 
(b) making investigations more efficient; (c) increasing 
transparency; (d) modernizing equipment; (e) enhancing 
security; (f) enhancing and increasing the level of training 
and education of Customs officers through the establishment 
of a Customs Academy; and (g) signing of a customs mutual 
assistance agreement with the U.S. 
 
¶6.  (C) Aliyev said that his "dream" would be to have the 
customs and border services operating as one unit as in the 
U.S., but that this did not seem to be in Azerbaijan's 
immediate future.  Aliyev mentioned the importance of U.S. 
assistance in helping Azerbaijan join the World Trade 
Organization (WTO).  Aliyev admitted that his goals for 
Customs were ambitious and said that making progress in 
Azerbaijan's political-social climate was difficult.  He 
complained about the opposition parties, particularly 
opposition newspapers, which he said were rife with untruths 
and innuendo about Customs.  He noted the President Ilham 
Aliyev is about to approve a new state program for 
strengthening customs. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) During a final meeting on January 18, Aliyev said 
that Azerbaijan would be interested in having potentially 2-3 
U.S. CBP advisors along the lines outlined by Adams.  Adams 
 
BAKU 00000159  002 OF 002 
 
 
promised to pull together a proposal and present it to Aliyev. 
 
STATE BORDER SERVICE 
-------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) The delegation also met with the State Border Service 
(SBS) on January 15, where a meeting was held with SBS 
Chairman Elchin Guliyev and Deputy Chairman Farhad Tagizadeh. 
 Guliyev presented a general overview of the SBS and 
mentioned the pressures that Azerbaijan was under as a result 
of refugees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Guliyev 
described a situation where there were several million 
refugees fleeing Iraq and Afghanistan and putting pressure on 
the Azerbaijani border.  Guliyev mentioned that the SBS has 
cooperation with the European Union; European Commission; 
Germany, Hungary and Poland (training) and with Turkey. 
However, he added that the level of U.S. assistance was 
larger than all other countries combined. 
 
¶9.  (C) Guliyev met again with Adams on January 18 to provide 
Adams with a briefing on Azerbaijan,s border security.  The 
briefing surveyed a range of Azerbaijan,s border security 
issues, including the outstanding status of Caspian Sea 
delimitation, "aggressive separatism" from Armenia, human 
trafficking, weapons smuggling, and drugs transiting across 
Azerbaijan's territory.  Guliyev also claimed that Armenia 
backs training camps for "international terrorism" in the 
occupied territories of Nagorno-Karabakh.  Guliyev specified 
that since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, approximately 
two million people have moved from Afghanistan and Iraq 
through Azerbaijan.  (No further information provided.) 
 
¶10.  (SBU) In response to Adams, suggestion of an on-site 
U.S. CBP advisor at the SBS, Guliyev said the proposal was 
"very interesting," but noted that the SBS does not have the 
legal authority to engage in this type of cooperation. 
 
¶11.  (C) COMMENT:  We welcome and appreciate the U.S. CBP,s 
interest in expanding its bilateral cooperation with 
Azerbaijan and its offer to develop a proposal for a fully 
reimbursable Customs Advisor Program in Azerbaijan.  Such a 
program would help reform Azerbaijan,s Customs operations 
and greatly advance our anti-corruption goals; it also could 
serve as a model for new co-financing arrangements for our 
bilateral technical assistance programs.  However, the most 
important value added would be the long-term benefits of 
helping to stem the flow of drugs and other strategic 
proliferation-related materials thought Azerbaijan.  Embassy 
believes that it would be essential for such a position to be 
co-located with in the Azerbaijani Customs service building 
and that the designee(s) be a fluent Azerbaijani or 
preferably Russian speakers. 
 
¶12.  (U) Adams did not have the opportunity to clear this 
message prior to departing Baku. 
DERSE