AZERBAIJANI AND FRENCH PRESIDENTS TO DISCUSS ‘HOT POINTS’ IN EURASIA

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 14 2007

Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Agayeva / The forthcoming meeting
of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and France, Ilham Aliyev and Nicola
Sarkozy, is important for exchange of opinions both on bilateral
cooperation and regional issues, Novruz Mammadov, head of the
International Relations Department at the Azerbaijani President’s
Administration, told Trend. He was commenting on the Azerbaijani
President’s upcoming visit to France on 19-20 November.

" Azerbaijan and France have good relations and a dialogue should
be held to continue the cooperation," Mammadov said. On the other
hand, it is also important for Sarkozy to meet with the Azerbaijani
President to get closely familiar with regional issues and know the
Azerbaijani President’s position on ‘hot points’, he stressed.

"Indeed, the meeting will focus on the resolution of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict," he said.

France is a co-chairing country at the OSCE Minsk Group, which is
involved in the resolution of the conflict between the two countries
of the South Caucasus broken out in 1988 due to Armenian territorial
claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have
occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and
its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia
signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities
ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and
the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.

Mammadov said that during the upcoming visit it is not planned to sign
any document on bilateral cooperation, because the visit is of working
character. At the beginning of the year the Azerbaijani President was
to France with official visit and signed several bilateral documents,
he said.