EU TO SIGN ‘NEIGHBORHOOD’ ACCORDS WITH 3 SOUTH CAUCASUS NATIONS

Kyiv Post, Ukraine
Nov 14 2006

BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union will sign accords with Georgia,
Azerbaijan and Armenia Tuesday offering the three nations extensive
economic help and easy access to EU markets in return for a pledge
to commit to across-the-board reforms in the years ahead.

"These agreements will boost our relationship," said EU External
Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner after she had dinner
with the foreign ministers of the three south Caucasus nations Monday.

The ‘European Neighborhood’ accords offer broad EU economic help
and cooperation in justice affairs, transport, energy, environment,
research, education, health and other sectors.

They aim to craft a "ring of friends" – eventually embracing Israel,
Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Moldova, Morocco, the Palestinians, Tunisia
and Ukraine – and offer them easy access to the EU’s vast internal
market if they stay the course on reforms.

Crucially, EU membership is not on offer. This has riled some
countries, notably Ukraine.

The EU sees the neighborhood accords as an opportunity to help settle
frozen conflicts in the south Caucasus and help nations there to
normalize frayed ties with Russia.

The EU is concerned about poor relations between Russia and Georgia
and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will have
another round of talks about the disputed territory in Azerbaijan that
has been under the control of Armenian and ethnic Armenian Karabakh
forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year separatist war that
killed about 30,000 people and drove about 1 million from their homes.

"This is a big problem hampering the development of the (south
Caucasus) region," said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

He and Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian met last Oct. 24
in Paris.

The final status of Nagorno-Karabakh has not been worked out. Years
of talks under the auspices of international mediators have brought
few visible results.

On Monday, the EU foreign ministers said they will not recognize a
weekend referendum vote result backing independence for Georgia’s
breakaway province of South Ossetia.

The ministers said in a statement the vote "did not contribute to
efforts for peaceful conflict resolution (and) contradicts Georgia’s
sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Earlier, Georgia’s Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli told reporters
his government "remains faithful to a peaceful resolution of the
conflict." He added that "all sides must refrain from provocations"
like the independence vote.

Election officials in South Ossetia said voters in the disputed region
had approved independence for the tiny Caucasus Mountains province
on Russia’s border, which split off from Georgian central government
control in a bloody 1990s war.

The EU sees the vote as a Russia ploy to destabilize Georgia.

Georgian-Russian relations hit a new low in September after Georgia
briefly detained four Russian officers it accused of spying. Russia
responded with economic sanctions and a crackdown on Georgians living
in Russia. Earlier this month Russian state-controlled natural gas
monopoly OAO Gazprom said it would more than double the price it
charges for gas supplies to Georgia.