Azerbaijani Parliamentarians Brief the Media on the Russian Invasion of Georgia and Threats to Major Oil Pipelines

MEDIA BRIEFING BY AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENTARIANS RE: THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF GEORGIA AND THREATS TO MAJOR OIL PIPELINES

A 5-member parliamentary delegation from Azerbaijan briefed the media on the implications of the Russian invasion of Georgia for the region and for oil and gas supplies globally.Azerbaijan, a moderate secular Muslim state, is a neighbor of Georgia. Currently, two important international oil pipelines which run from Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan) andthrough Georgia have been closed because of the conflict. The briefing took place at the Center's Museum of Tolerance.

"We welcome the briefing by the visiting parliamentarians," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "We live in an increasingly interdependentworld. Ensuring our nation's energy needs is America's #1 national security issue."

Last month, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Center's associate dean, visited Azerbaijan to meet with the Foreign Minister and a leading Muslim religious leader.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO atinternational agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe.

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