and azerbaijan.he'll have meetings in lebanon with president sulayman, prime minister hariri, and other lebanese leaders demonstrating our continued support to a sovereign and independent lebanon. rnbçóñrin syria, he will meet wh president asad and foreign minister mualem, reflecting our continued interest in further dialogue with the syrian government on all aspects of our bilateral relationship. and then on to turkey for meetings with senior officials to discuss the 2006 shared vision framework for our strategic partnership, and then he will continue on to azerbaijan for meetings on february 19 with president aliyev to reinforce our bilateral relations, and he will also be meeting with civil society members there. administrator for usaid raj shah will be in haiti tomorrow, traveling there with general doug fraser of southern command to meet with haitian leaders and review humanitarian and reconstruction relief efforts. obviously, and he will be able he'll be there during this period of mourning and

i can give you several figures which clearly will illustrate what happened in azerbaijan in 2009. gdp growth was 9.3%, industrial production growth was 8.6%, inflation rate was only 1.5%. in 2009, despite all the dramatic drops of oil prices, our sovereign oil fund accumulated more resources, and these figures clearly show that our economy can tolerate such kind of unexpected development. of course, we also suffered from economic crisis and managed to mobilize all our resources. i can also tell you that one of the important elements in 2009 was on like many countries in our region, our national currency did not lose value, it was stable, so that was a big support with respect to the social protection of the people. and today's level of oil price i think is acceptable for companies, for consumers, and for the countries. this level of price allows us to invest more, to find more oil and gas. at the same time, it is also acceptable for consumers because the balance of interests, which i was referring to in my previous comments, is observed now. i hope that in 2010 we will implement a

i can give you several figures which clearly will illustrate what happened in azerbaijan in 2009.owth was 9.3%, industrial production growth was 8.6%, inflation rate was only 1.5%. in 2009, despite all the dramatic drops of oil prices, our sovereign oil fund accumulated more resources, and these figures clearly show that our economy can tolerate such kind of unexpected development. of course, we also suffered from economic crisis and managed to mobilize all our resources. i can also tell you that one of the important elements in 2009 was on like many countries in our region, our national currency did not lose value, it was stable, so that was a big support with respect to the social protection of the people. and today's level of oil price i think is acceptable for companies, for consumers, and for the countries. this level of price allows us to invest more, to find more oil and gas. at the same time, it is also acceptable for consumers because the balance of interests, which i was referring to in my previous comments, is observed now. i hope that in 2010 we will implement all the

he will then continue on to as a rush on -- on to azerbaijan.be attending bilateral meetings with both the splem and the congress party and to discuss referendums and post referendum issues. like all sports fans tonight, we're looking forward to the start of the winter olympics and will be rooting for team usa and recognizing the value of the olympics and sports in terms of our joint international goals. we are grateful to our friends in canada for hosting this great event. with that -- >> about bill burns going to syria, is he the highest level official to go in some time? why now? does it have to go -- do with the ambassador? >> it does not have to do with the ambassador, per say, but to what syria represents. this is further steps in our bilateral relations. we will reflect on a number of issues, regional issues, house syria continues to view -- how syria views the middle east. yes? >> about the statement put out on tony blair yesterday, you said he would be intensifying his partnership to deal with negotiations and political negotiations. wh