AzerTag, Azerbaijan
June 9 2005

PAC AND LINKS HOST CONFERENCE ON GEOSTRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF
AZERBAIJAN
[June 09, 2005, 19:15:00]

Public Association Civilization (PAC) and British non governmental
organization LINKS have hosted a conference on the theme
`Geostrategic Importance of Azerbaijan’ at the International Press
Center in Baku. Participating local political scientists, MPs,
experts from the Great Britain, Russia and Georgia, as well as
representatives of governmental bodies and NGOs have exchange views
on the factors determining Geostrategic importance of Azerbaijan, and
interests of the largest states in the region.

Speaking Chief of the International Relations Department at the
President’s Administration Novruz Mammadov noted Azerbaijan had
extremely significant geostrategic location, and was a recognized
leader in the region. As graphic evidence of this, Mr. Mammadov cited
the recently opened Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Main Export pipeline. `The
pipeline is a product of joint activities by Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Turkey, USA and Great Britain. Apart from that, construction of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline is in progress,’ he said.

The speaker continued that a number of countries, in particular,
Greece have expressed a desire to join the gas transportation to
Europe. `This is an indication of how important role Azerbaijan will
be playing in the future of Eurasia. The country is a crossroad of
transport and communication routes connecting the West and East, and
the North and South, and is playing the role of the gate for
transportation of the Caspian hydrocarbons to the world market,’ he
said.

`Azerbaijan stands for cooperation in the region,’ Novruz Mammadov
continued, but `the unsolved Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict is a sticking point.’ He called on the global community to
show political will to solve the problem in accordance with the
international law norms.

Ambassador of Great Britain to Azerbaijan Laurie Bristow was present
at the conference.