FINNISH FOREIGN MINISTER HOPES FOR PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF NK CONFLICT
Author: S.Agayeva

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 3 2006

The Foreign Minister of Finland Erkki Tuomioya hopes for the peaceful
settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Tuomioya himself briefed
journalists of October 3 in Baku, Trend reports.

The Minister positively assessed the activities of the OSCE Minsk
Group, of which co-chairs demonstrate intensive activities in the
regulation process of the conflict over the recent period. He stressed
that he fully believed it during the recent meeting with the co-chairs
held in Helsinki.

The Finland Foreign Minister considers that the action plan regarding
individual co-operation of the European Union with Azerbaijan is not
a tool to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. He considers that
the conflict may be settled only within the format of the Minsk Group.

In his turn, the EU Commissioner Benito-Ferrero Valdner who is in Baku
on a visit supported his earlier position that increasing the military
expenditures of Azerbaijan may cause the raise of the tension in the
region. EU urges its decrease.