I appoint Senior Foreign Affairs Member Luis L. Bono as Senior Advisor to the Caucasus Negotiations. In this capacity, Mr. Bono will work with regional leaders to advance the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan and to address Russia’s ongoing occupation of Georgian sovereign territory. Mr. Bono has represented the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations Office in Vienna, Ambassador Chargé d’Affaires and Acting Victim of the Holy See, and brings extensive multilateral and bilateral experience to this role. He has also served as Director of the Basra Regional Office of the National Security Council and has served as an Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of State and the Under Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs. He retired from the Army Reserves, where he served as an instructor at West Point and the Army War College.
The United States is committed to helping Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiate a comprehensive peace deal, including a long-term political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Mr. Bono will engage bilaterally with like-minded partners including the European Union and international organizations such as his OSCE to facilitate direct dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan. His appointment also reflects the importance the United States places on Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the Geneva International Talks on Georgia, the only international format that addresses the continued Russian occupation of his 20% of Georgian territory. This is to reconfirm the role of
