TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug. 11, 2006

Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Russia to Establish Caucasian
Mountain Villages Alliance

Source: Trend
Author: M. Karimova

11.08.2006

In the mountain village of Chiora of the On District of Georgia the
representatives of municipalities and district administrations of
eight pilot Caucasian villages of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and
Russia have adopted the Memorandum on Intention of Establishment of
the Alliance of Mountain Villages (Communities) of the Caucasus.

The meeting was held within the Project of Steady Development of
Mountain Regions of the Caucasus; the Local Agenda for the XXI
Century of the Regional Ecological Centre of the Caucasus, Trend`
reporter reports.

According to the initiators of this process – the Director of the
Regional Ecological Centre of the Caucasus Nato Kirvalidze and the
representative of the Ministry of Environment and Radiation
Protection of Germany Silvia Reppe who is a donor of the Centre`s
projects, the Alliance of Mountain Villages of the Caucasus that was
established on the example of the Alliance of Villages of the Alps
could further the development of mountain villages, the solving of
many problems of the villagers, and the join working out of efficient
methods of self-governing. Experts point out that today the
population of mountain villages of the Caucasus lives a separate life
apart the World and the government of a country they live in, and
sometimes they cannot cope with problems they face with in the
mountains.

The population of mountain villages often lives without elementary
life conditions such as electricity, infrastructure of roads, medical
care, telecommunications, etc. All the above-mentioned was told
during the meeting by the representatives of the regional
administration of the four countries.

The leaders of the Centre of all the four countries told their own
vision of the Alliance, and determined the fields the Alliance should
act first. Speaking about the mechanism of launching of such an
alliance, the participants` attention was focused on the proposal of
the coordinator of the mentioned mountain project in Azerbaijan Azer
Garayev, who suggest starting works on the 8+4 principle, i. e. the
eight pilot villages start working on the establishment of the
Alliance by the support of the four villages of the Alps Alliance
which has existed for nearly 50 years, and unites 150 villages of the
mountains. The experience of this alliance could help to establish
the same alliance in the Caucasus faster.

It should be noted that in 2003 the Alliance of Mountain Communities
of Central, to which 37 villages have already entered was
established.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress