PACE observers visit Baku

AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Nov 25 2004

Members of the “Ago” monitoring group of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) visited Baku last week as part of
their tour of the South Caucasus region.

The goal of the three-day visit was to monitor the fulfillment of
Azerbaijan’s commitments to PACE, in particular, freedom of speech
and human rights. The discussions covered a peace settlement of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper Garabagh as well.

The PACE monitoring group chaired by the German ambassador to the CE
Roland Vegener met with President Ilham Aliyev, government officials,
leaders of opposition parties, representatives of non-governmental
and international organizations in the country.

The group members also visited penitentiaries and met with
the convicted opposition representatives. Issues pertaining to
democratization, ensuring political pluralism in the country, the
CE-Azerbaijan cooperation, and fulfillment of Azerbaijan’s commitments
to the organization were discussed at President Aliyev’s meeting with
the monitoring group.

The parties considered discussion of the Upper Garabagh conflict
within relevant entities of the PACE as well.

The monitoring group includes ambassadors of other CE member states,
who oversee certain commitments of Azerbaijan to the organization.
The “Ago” group members are expected to submit a report on results
of the visit to South Caucasus at the next PACE session.

The monitoring group was established in January 2001 under the
leadership of Italy’s Ambassador Pietro Ercole Ago.