Heidar Aliev met in Washington, D.C., on 24 February with Ambassador Rudolf Perina, the U.S. cochairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, to discuss the prospects for resolving the Karabakh conflict. Aliev told Perina that the current stalemate must not be allowed to continue and that it is time to find a solution to the conflict. Aliev also met on 24 February with U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans and solicited U.S. support in overcoming unspecified obstacles that remain to the planned construction of oil- and gas-export pipelines from Azerbaijan via Georgia to Turkey. Evans reportedly assured Aliev of Washington\'s support for those projects and said the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil-export pipeline will help to integrate the Caspian region into the world economy. (Turan)