Fischer to visit Afghanistan – followed by Caucasus stopovers

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 16, 2004, Friday
13:16:03 Central European Time

BERLIN – German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will visit Afghanistan
next week followed by stopovers in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia,
the government said Friday in a statement. Fischer begins his April
19 to 23 trip in Afghanistan where he will meet President Hamid Karzai
and other officials including United Nations Special Commissioner for
Afghanistan Jean Arnault. He is also due to visit German soldiers
operating a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the city of
Kundus. Germany has supplied about 2,000 of the troops serving in the
6,000 member NATO-led ISAF peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. ISAF is
separate from the over 13,500 U.S.-led troops fighting remnant Taliban
and al-Qaeda forces in remote areas of the country. Fischer will
make stopovers in Azerbaijan, Aremenia and Georgia on his way home
for talks with leaders of all three countries. Topping the agenda
will be regional conflicts especially that between Aremenia and
Azerbaijan as well as between Georgian state and breakaway regions,
said the statement. dpa lm sc