Interfax News Agency, Russia
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
March 6, 2008 Thursday

NATO has its interests in S. Caucasus – NATO PA leader

BAKU. March 6 (Azerbaijan) – NATO has its interests in the South
Caucasus, said Jose Lello, president of the NATO Parliamentary
Assembly.

The measures being taken by the alliance prove this, he told
journalists on Thursday. It shows that we have our own interests in
this region, he said.

South Caucasus countries are taking quite an active part in NATO
events, Lello added.

At the Rose-Roth seminar in Baku, we will discuss frozen conflicts,
including Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, he said.

The Rose-Roth seminar will be attended for the first time by
officials from Central Asia, in particular from Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, he said.

The NATO PA played and is playing a significant role in preparing
candidate countries and their parliaments to join the alliance, Lello
said. For the first time NATO is expanding its interests to a wider
format. We are now paying attention to the Balkans, countries in the
South Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan and the Middle East, he
said.