ITALY: BULGARIAN OSCE HEAD ATTENDS NATO SESSION

BTA web site, Sofia
12 Nov 04

Sofia, 12 November: The chairman-in-office of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Bulgarian foreign
minister, (Solomon Pasi), stressed “the growing geostrategic importance
of the Black Sea – Caucasus region in the light of the new security
threats” in his address to the NATO – Russia Parliamentary Committee
Meeting at the 50th Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
in Venice on Friday (12 November). Pasi told the meeting that the
present and the future of the Black Sea – Caucasus region is important
for Russia and NATO as well as the OSCE, the Bulgarian Foreign
Ministry’s Information and Public Relations Directorate reported.

“We wish to see the efforts invested in this region today, materialized
into peace and prosperity tomorrow,” Pasi said, adding that stability
and progress in the countries of the Black Sea – Caucasus region
will surely help further consolidate security in the whole of the
Euro-Atlantic zone. The OSCE chairman-in-office dwelt on the conflicts
in the region. He noted that the international community and the OSCE
in particular are concerned with the heightening of tensions in South
Ossetia. Pasi noted that the OSCE is supportive of the United Nations
efforts in finding a resolution to the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. “I
hope that the negotiations on the comprehensive settlement of the
Georgian-Abkhaz conflict could be resumed after the formation of a
new political leadership in Abkhazia,” he added. The foreign minister
observed that the OSCE follows closely the developments in the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict.

“I welcome the reinvigoration of the dialogue between Armenia and
Azerbaijan with the active support of the OSCE Minsk Group within
the Prague process through four meetings between the ministers of
foreign affairs and two meetings between the presidents of the two
countries,” Pasi said. He expressed the hope that the momentum would be
preserved and the negotiations would benefit from a more constructive
and pragmatic approach. Considering the Transdniestrian conflict,
Pasi recalled the initiative undertaken by the Bulgarian chairmanship
to resume the negotiations in the five-sided format, including the
four rounds of consultations and the meeting of the OSCE, Russian and
Ukrainian mediators in Sofia in October. “The appointment of former
Bulgarian President Petur Stoyanov as OSCE special envoy for Moldova
and his visit to Chisinau and Tiraspol in September, demonstrated
the chairmanship’s commitment to further engage in resolving the
existing contradictions and the overall settlement of the conflict,”
Pasi noted. (Passage omitted).