G8 FOREIGN MINISTERS SUPPORT PEACEFUL SOLUTION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
Trend News Agency
June 27 2008
Azerbaijan
G8 Foreign Ministers called Azerbaijan and Armenia to the peaceful
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was mentioned in
one of the items of the statement by the Foreign Minister of Japan,
Masahiko Komura, as the chairman of the two-day ministerial meeting,
which was completed today in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto,
ITAR-TASS reports.
The Foreign Ministers of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada,
France, USA, Japan stated their support for the efforts of the
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, directed toward prompt solution
of the conflict. Ministers noted that Armenia and Azerbaijan must
"demonstrate restraint" and take "serious steps" to reach an agreement.
At the same time, the Press Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Japan,
Kadzuo Kodama, reported to the correspondent of ITAR-TASS that "wide
discussions on this problem were not held at the conference".
The concluding document of the meeting reflected all themes, which were
risen by the G8 Foreign Ministers. They include the problems of Middle
East, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, People’s Democratic Republic of Korea,
Myanmar, Sudan and Afghanistan. The participants in the conference paid
special attention to questions of nuclear disarmament and peaceful use
of atom. Detailed discussions were held on the theme of ensuring peace
in different countries worldwide, as well as questions of combating
terrorism and organized criminality were touched upon.
The First Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Andrey Denisov, reported
to the Russian journalists that "the G8 summit due in July will focus
on only four questions. "This is Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan and
Middle East. All these questions have been reflected in the statement
by the Chairman and as a whole show the motion of discussions.
"We clarified the positions of the leading countries of world
on important questions and, in a certain extent, prepared the
international part of the agenda of the meeting of leaders in
Hokkaido. We provided them with time and possibility to discuss
other not less important issues," Denisov added. In addition to the
statement by the Chairman, as a result of the meeting in Kyoto,
a joint statement was adopted on Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. With
regard to the last document, the Deputy Minister noted that not all
in it satisfied the Russian side, but "the base approaches coincide
with the remaining G8 countries ". Furthermore, he reminded that
"absolute priority" for Russia is the unity of "Groups of G8".
The meeting completed today in Kyoto is last preparation stage for the
G8 summit, which will take place on 7-9 July in the Japanese Island
of Hokkaido. Over the past several months, the conferences of the
heads of financial, law-enforcement, energetic, social, ecological
and other departments of the leading industrial countries of planet
have already taken place in various cities of Japan.