Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 1 2006

Council of Europe Director of Culture and Cultural and Natural
Heritage to visit Azerbaijan

[ 01 Sen. 2006 19:10 ]

The second consultation within the Kyiv Initiative program attended
by all of the three Caucasus states as well as representatives of
Ukrainian and Moldovan Culture Ministries and Robert Palmer, Director
of Culture and Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Council of Europe
held at the Council of Europe yesterday.

APA’s Europe bureau reports, Yashar Huseynli, director of cooperation
with international organizations and programs sector of Culture and
Tourism Ministry represented Azerbaijan at the meeting.
The Kyiv Initiative is based on the experience of the project
"Support for Transition in the Arts and Culture in Greater Europe"
(STAGE), carried out between 2000 and 2005. It is a comprehensive
follow-up of the STAGE project which ended in 2005 – intends to
contribute through action and policies in culture and heritage to
democratic development and dialogue in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Moldova and Ukraine.
Mr.Husyenli told the APA bureau that the STAGE project intends to
contribute to cultural tourism, cinematography, legislative,
financial and managing support in these fields.
`This project will enable Azerbaijan to have multiple and bilateral
cooperation with the Council of Europe and the participant countries,
except Armenia. Azerbaijan’s has voiced its official position in the
framework of this program. Thus Azerbaijan will not cooperate with
Armenia until it withdraws from the occupied Azerbaijani lands. The
importance of the Kyiv Initiative and Azerbaijan’s official position
there were uttered during Minister Abulfas Garayev’s visit to the
Council of Europe in April this year,’ he said.
Husyenli also said Azerbaijan has started the implementation of the
Kyiv Initiative, and the Alexander Duma in the Caucasus project,
which is accepted as the COE project at the initiative of the
Ministry is being implemented successfully.
`At yesterday’s meeting, we also discussed strategic framework and
action plan and also budget issues for 2006-2009 related to the Kyiv
Initiative,’ Huseynli said.
The sector director also said Robert Palmer, Director of Culture and
Cultural and Natural Heritage of the Council of Europe is expected to
visit Azerbaijan related to this project in late September and early
October.
Official inauguration of the Kyiv Initiative will be held in Romania
in autumn this year./APA/