EU HOPES KARABAKH TALKS WILL ADVANCE AFTER MEETING BETWEEN ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS
Interfax News Service
June 4 2008
Russia
The European Union is emphasizing the importance of the upcoming
meeting of Azeri President Ilkham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan in St. Petersburg.
This meeting is important because of the novelty of the format, EU
Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby told a
news conference on Tuesday. The EU hopes that the meeting will create
a basis for efficient talks, Semneby said, noting that the EU would
like to see advances at the meeting.
The EU could play a positive role in increasing the level of trust
between the parties, the diplomat said. Europe is concerned about the
absence of contacts between Armenia and Azerbaijan for quite a long
period of time, he said. The EU welcomed a visit of a delegation of
Azeri intellectuals to Nagorno-Karabakh, Semneby said, adding that
Europe hopes such visits will help establish contacts between the
two peoples.
Semneby also expressed readiness to visit Nagorno-Karabakh. The
principled consent of all parties is required for this, he said,
noting that such a visit would be useful.