Ekspress, Azerbaijan
Feb 14 2008
European envoy urges Azerbaijan to involve Armenia in economic
projects
The newly-appointed OSCE envoy on Nagornyy Karabakh, Heikki Talvitie,
has urged Azerbaijan to involve Armenia in economic projects.
"Both sides should believe that they will benefit more from resolving
the conflict rather than fighting a war, especially in the sphere of
economic development and trade. In particular, Azerbaijan should
involve Armenia in its economic projects," Talvitie said in an
interview with Ekspress newspaper published on 14 February.
Asked why he thinks the OSCE Minsk Group’s efforts to settle the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict have yielded no results over the past 14
years, Talvitie said: "I would not like to speak about the political
component of the peace talks. This issue is of low importance… If
the South Caucasus region operates as a single economic zone, more
investors will show interest in working in this region."
The envoy said that his appointment showed that Finland, the current
OSCE chair, was set to pay more attention to the resolution of
conflicts. "In general, the OSCE’s chances to resolve conflicts in
the South Caucasus region are increasing. But this absolutely does
not mean that this or some other organization will adopt a decision
instead of the [conflicting] sides through making statements or
assisting to implement projects," Talvitie said.