Representatives of Azerbaijan and the United States have held preliminary negotiations on signing a framework agreement, reports the Caucasar Telegram account.

The key point of this deal will be American funding of Azerbaijan in the energy sector, as reported by Azerbaijani economy minister Mikayil Jabbarov after President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Washington recently.

As the resource notes, over the past year, trade between the countries has grown by 94% and reached $1.7 billion. However, the structure of this trade shows Azerbaijan's complete dependence on the US: $1.6 billion is imported from the US, while exports amount to only $135 million.

"And this is not surprising, since the United States is actively increasing its economic presence. There are already 300 American organizations registered in Azerbaijan, and [Azerbaijani] state-owned [oil] company SOCAR recently signed a contract with the American oil giant ExxonMobil.

The consistent steps of the Americans can be assessed as a direct purchase of the Azerbaijani leadership’s loyalty and the creation of a springboard for influence.

The Azerbaijani authorities continue to voluntarily exchange [Azerbaijan’s] sovereignty for dollar investments. And the United States, through its actions, is attempting to push out British energy companies that have long been operating in the region,” adds Caucasar.