Slovene OSCE chairman leaving for tour of Caucasus on 30 March

STA news agency
30 Mar 05

Ljubljana, 30 March: Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, the incumbent
OSCE chairman, is leaving for a tour of the Caucasus on Wednesday [30
March], making his first stop in Armenia. The crisis in Kyrgyzstan has
somewhat changed the chairman’s initial plans, however, so that he
will break the tour for a visit to Bishkek, and then continue his
journey in Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Rupel is to head for Bishkek from Armenia, where he is due to hold
talks later today, in a bid to find a peaceful solution to the
crisis. He is to meet representatives of the Kyrgyz new leadership who
toppled President Askar Akayev and seized control following protests
over the recent parliamentary elections. [Passage omitted]

Before visiting the hot spot, the OSCE chairman is scheduled to stop
in Yerevan to meet Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanyan and other Armenian leaders, as well as the
political leader of Nagornyy Karabakh Arkadiy Gukasyan.

The simmering conflict in Nagornyy Karabakh, the ethnic-Armenian
enclave in Azerbaijan, is one of the issues in which the OSCE is
trying to assist the parties involved to find a peaceful
solution. Since February 2000, the organization has its office in
Yerevan.

After Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, Rupel is to make his next stop in the
Georgian capital Tbilisi on Friday. There too, he is to meet all top
officials, including President Mikheil Saakashvili. He is also due to
take part in a round-table debate with representatives of the
opposition.

The OSCE chairman is to wrap up his tour on Saturday, with a visit to
Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where he is to meet President Ilham
Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizada, Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov and representatives of the opposition and NGOs.

The minister’s entourage includes a delegation of corporate executives
who already do business on the markets there or are keen to do so. A
business conference will be organized in each of the countries, as
well as separate talks with government economics officials and
business partners. [Passage omitted]