FRENCH PRESIDENT HAILS AZERI LEADER’S DECREE PARDONING PRISONERS
ANS TV, Baku
22 May 04
French President Jacques Chirac has sent a letter to his Azerbaijan
counterpart Ilham Aliyev, welcoming the pardoning decree signed on
10 May and praising Azerbaijan’s integration into Europe. Praising
Ilham Aliyev’s move, the French president said that France is always
ready to assist the country in continuing this policy and developing
a plural society. (Indistinct sentence)
You are paying great attention to integration into the European
Union. I witnessed this once again during your visit to Brussels,
end quote.
The letter also says that this integration will further strengthen as
a result of progress on settling the Nagornyy Karabakh problem. The
resumption of the dialogue between you and the Armenian president
under the aegis of the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as between the two
countries’ foreign ministers is a hopeful sign, the French president
said in his letter. This report was disseminated by Azartac news
agency.