Europe wants to assist Karabakh settlement

MPA news agency
1 Jul 04

Baku, 1 July: “The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
[PACE] is able and wants to render assistance in resolving the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict although the OSCE Minks Group is dealing
with the issue,” PACE Secretary-General Bruno Haller said today (1
July) following his talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov.

Mr Haller stressed that PACE does not intend to substitute the OSCE in
the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. PACE will soon
appoint a rapporteur on Nagornyy Karabakh and the report will be ready
in late 2004 – early 2005, he said. The new rapporteur will continue
working on the report on the basis of information collected by Terry
Davis. The new rapporteur will visit the region to familiarize himself
with the conflict, Mr Haller said.

He expressed satisfaction with his meeting with the Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister and said that the strengthening of parliamentary
cooperation between Baku and Strasbourg and PACE’s role in the
Karabakh conflict settlement were discussed during the talks.