16 April 2004
Steven Mann Named Special Negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh
Served as charge d’affaires in Armenia, ambassador to Turkmenistan
Secretary of State Colin Powell has named Steven R. Mann to be special
negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian conflicts.
Ambassador Mann succeeds Ambassador Rudolf V. Perina.
Since May 2001, Mann has been senior adviser for Caspian Basin Energy
Diplomacy and will continue those responsibilities in his new position. He
also has served as the first charge d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in
Armenia and as U.S. ambassador to Turkmenistan.
Following is the State Department announcement on his appointment:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
April 16, 2004
MEDIA NOTE
Special Negotiator Named for Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian Conflicts
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has named Ambassador Steven R. Mann to be
the Special Negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian Conflicts,
succeeding Ambassador Rudolf V. Perina. Since May 2001, Ambassador Mann has
been the Senior Advisor for Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy. As the senior
U.S. official dealing with Caspian energy issues, Ambassador Mann is
involved in realizing the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, in the launch
of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) line, and a range of other Eurasian
energy issues. Ambassador Mann will retain his Caspian energy
responsibilities while acting as Special Negotiator. In 2003, Ambassador
Mann joined the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq where he worked to
manage transition of the UN Oil-for-Food Program.
Ambassador Mann, from Pennsylvania, joined the Foreign Service in 1976. He
has served in a number of foreign and domestic assignments, including
Moscow, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Micronesia, and Mongolia. In January 1992,
Ambassador Mann conveyed the diplomatic note that established American
diplomatic relations with Armenia. He opened the first United States Embassy
in Yerevan and served as the first American Charge d’Affaires in that
nation. From 1998 to 2001, he was served as the U.S. Ambassador to
Turkmenistan.
In 1985-86, Ambassador Mann was a Fellow of the Harriman Institute for
Advanced Soviet Studies at Columbia University. He is a 1991 Distinguished
Graduate of the National War College. Ambassador Mann holds an A.B. degree
from Oberlin College and M.A. degrees from Cornell and Columbia
Universities. His foreign languages are Russian and German.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: )