Baltic News Service
December 5, 2007 Wednesday 11:57 PM EET

ESTONIAN PRESIDENT HOPING FOR PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH
CONFLICT

TALLINN Dec 05

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves hopes that the nearly
20-year-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh will find a peaceful settlement.

Meeting with Azerbaijan’s defense minister Safar Abijev on Wednesday,
the Estonian president said that patience of all the parties and the
wish to find a peaceful settlement was needed to reach settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, because frozen conflicts canot be
settled by war.

Ilves said the one-year-old European neighborhood policy action plan
in which a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
figured as an important point was an important landmark in the
relationship between the European Union and Azerbaijan, a country
with impressive economic development.

The plan also lays importance on the strengthening of democracy,
human rights, fundamental freedoms and legality, the fight against
corruption, support to balanced and sustainable economic development
as well as livelier energy cooperation between the European Union and
Azerbaijan.

According to the president’s office Abijev informed Ilves of Baku’s
evaluation of the situation in Southern Caucasus and the Caspian Sea
region in wider terms.

"Azerbaijan as the center of a very important region in strategic and
particularly energy security terms has a major role for the stability
and development of the whole region," Ilves said.

The meeting also addressed relations betwen NATO and Azerbaijan,
which are increasingly more frequent and matter-of-fact.

Ilves and Abijev also spoke about the situation in Georgia and
Russia’s role in Southern Caucasus and Central Asia.