EU starts bridge building

09-03-2007 18:57:14 – KarabakhOpen

In Brussels the conference on building bridges in the Black Sea region
and the role of the EU kicked off yesterday. The conference is held in
the framework of the project Civil Society Participation in the
European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) – A Regional Approach to Conflict
Resolution. This meeting was organized by the Crisis Management
Initiative (chairman Martti Ahtisaari, ex-president of Finland). The
participants are the partners of the Institute from Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, national experts and representatives of
the civil societies of Transdnyestr, Nagorno Karabakh, Abkhazia and
South Ossetia. Nagorno Karabakh is represented by the chairman of
Stepanakert Press Club Gegham Baghdasaryan.

Gegham Baghdasaryan told KarabakhOpen from Brussels that the purpose
of the meeting is to set up an open dialogue with the EU politicians
and to enlarge the civil society network sharing the outlook and
interests for peace and stability in the Black Sea region. The
expected outcome is the creation of an EU-Black Sea expert council
which is thought to be a flexible association of local and European
experts dealing with a peace settlement of the frozen conflicts in
terms of engagement of the EU in the process of regional cooperation
and dialogue.

The objectives of the meeting are: to outline a common vision of the
future region to mark the spheres in which regional cooperation and
the engagement of the EU is necessary; to provide a similar perception
of the EU policy, organizations and tools; as well as acquaintance
with the standpoint of the civil society.

The participants will work out and prepare the vision of the Black Sea
region in 2020. Besides discussions there will be meetings with
officials of the EU, the European commission, the Council of Europe,
the European parliament, as well as representatives of the
transatlantic community.