RUSSIA, AZERBAIJAN FOR PEACEFUL CAUCASUS

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
May 21, 2007 Monday

Russia and Azerbaijan are united in the view that the Caucasus should
remain peaceful and stable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said on Monday upon the conclusion of the talks with his Azerbaijani
counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov.

"We are certainly concerned in this respect over the fact that
there exist unsettled conflicts, including the Karabakh conflict,
in the region," Lavrov said, stressing that "the parties and the
co-chairmen of the Minsk group of the OSCE for Nagorno Karabakh
work intensively." He is convinced that, given political will of
all the sides, "it is possible to achieve generally-acceptable
arrangements." "Russia as the co-chairman of the Minsk group and a
friend of Azerbaijan and Armenia will be doing all to achieve such
a result," Lavrov said.

The Azerbaijani foreign minister, on his pats, assessed Russia’s
stand as the co-chairman of the Minsk group as "highly active."

"We welcome this stand and we believe that Russia must play a greater,
even the key, role in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict,"
Mamedyarov said.

Regarding the talks held, the foreign ministers of the two countries
described them as "open, useful, good and comradely." "We have
discussed prospects of the deepening of bilateral relations, also in
the trade and economic and military-technical areas," Lavrov said.

He said special attention was given to the humanitarian area, which
"directly concerns our citizens."

"There are bilateral plans, including the expansion of branches
of Russian higher educational establishments in Azerbaijan and the
teaching of the Azerbaijani language in the Russian Federation and
interaction in the framework of the recently formed Council of the
CIS for humanitarian cooperation," Lavrov said.