Deutsche Presse-Agentur
April 23, 2004, Friday

Fischer in Georgia: “stability in Caucasus in Europe’s interest”

TBILISI

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer Friday promised the help of
his government and the European Union to help stabilize Georgia and
solve its internal conflicts with breakaway regions.

“We want to contribute to a peaceful solution of these conflicts,”
Fischer told Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili at a meeting in
the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The Georgian regions of Abklazia and Southern Ossetia have split from
Tbilisi and Ajaria is also opposed to the central government.

Saakashvili thanked Germany for its past involvement in solving the
conflict.

Fischer said the stability of the southern republics of the former
Soviet Union was in Europe’s interest.

Speaking in Tbilisi at a conference of German ambassadors posted in
the region and in Central Asia, he said: “There are no irrelevant
conflicts,” adding this was the result of globalization.

The southern Caucasian region of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia
“could function as a bridge but also turn into a rupture zone”, he said.