SLOVENE FOREIGN MINISTER GOES TO AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA TO DISCUSS KARABAKH
STA news agency, Ljubljana
4 Sep 05
Baku/Yerevan, 4 September: [Slovene] Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel,
the incumbent OSCE chairman, is travelling on a two-day visit to
Azerbaijan and Armenia on Sunday evening [4 September] after he visited
these two OSCE members in conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh this spring.
Ways of finding a peaceful solution to and securing a lasting peace
in the autonomous region of Nagornyy Karabakh, will be the main topic
Rupel will discuss there. [Passage omitted]
The Foreign Ministry said that Rupel will meet on Monday Azeri
President Ilham Aliyev, PM Artur Rasizade and Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov as well as representatives of political parties and NGOs.
Rupel will also use his stay in Baku to meet CoE [Council of Europe]
Secretary General Terry Davis, as well as the head of the OSCE election
monitoring mission Geert Ahrens. [Passage omitted]
Arriving in Armenia on Monday evening, Rupel is to visit Nagornyy
Karabakh’s permanent office in Armenia and meet the leader of the
unrecognised Nagornyy Karabakh, Arkadiy Gukasyan. Next day, he is
to meet Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanyan, PM Andranik Margaryan and representatives of NGOs. [Passage
omitted]
Rupel is travelling to the region after some encouraging news were
broken in late August following a Moscow meeting of the Russian, Azeri
and Armenian foreign ministers. Azeri Foreign Minister Mammadyarov
said that certain progress was made at the meeting. [Passage omitted]