OSCE CHAIRMAN CALLS TO BUILD ON POSITIVE IMPETUS OF KARABAKH PROCESS

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.07.2009 19:00 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Greek Foreign
Minister Dora Bakoyannis during her visit to Baku, urged Azerbaijan
today to build on the progress that has been achieved in the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process and in deepening democratic
reforms.

"A more secure, more stable and stronger Europe is in all our
interests. Azerbaijan plays an important role in helping to promote
our common security in the South Caucasus and the whole OSCE area,"
she said, following a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov.

"Addressing the region’s protracted conflicts is one of the top
priorities of the Greek OSCE Chairmanship. I am encouraged by the
latest developments in the negotiation process, which is facilitated
by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, and the intensified dialogue between
the Presidents and Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia to
achieved a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."

"We must continue to build on this positive momentum."

During her visit Dora Bakoyannis met Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov, Bayram Safarov, the Representative of the Azerbaijani
Community of Nagorno-Karabakh, and representatives of Azerbaijani
political parties. She will meet President Ilham Aliyev and Oktay
Asadov, the Speaker of Parliament, later today.

Bakoyannis noted the co-operation between Azerbaijan and the OSCE,
including with its Office in Baku, the Representative on Freedom of
the Media and its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

"A robust civil society, a free press and open political participation
represent key commitments we share as OSCE states," she said. "In this
regard I welcome the positive decision by Azerbaijan’s Parliament at
the end of June to help ensure that amendments to the law on NGOs do
not restrict, but facilitate, the activities of civil society. I am
confident that we can deepen the constructive co-operation between
the OSCE and Azerbaijan to further reforms."

The OSCE Chairperson will travel to Yerevan this evening for talks
with Armenian authorities and political parties on Friday.