NATO official says South Caucasus becoming “priority” – Azeri agency
Turan news agency
25 Nov 04
Baku, 25 November: The 58th Rose-Roth seminar of NATO’s Parliamentary
Assembly dedicated to security issues in the South Caucasus opened
in Baku today. Parliamentarians from over 20 NATO member states,
representatives of international organizations and diplomats are
attending the seminar.
The speaker of the Milli Maclis [Azerbaijani parliament], Murtuz
Alasgarov, opened the seminar and talked about the importance of
the South Caucasus region in the Euro-Atlantic security system. The
implementation of large regional energy and transport projects is
adding to the region’s importance, he said. However, the process is
being hampered by unresolved local conflicts, among which is also
the Karabakh problem, Alasgarov said. He called on the participants
in the seminar to openly discuss the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
NATO Parliamentary Assembly Secretary-General Simon Lann said for his
part that the South Caucasus region is going to become a “priority”
for Brussels in the nearest future.
“The number of visits to the region and meetings here will increase
starting from the next year. The Norwegian government will prepare
a special programme together with parliament members of the three
South Caucasus countries,” Lann said.
Asked about NATO’s attitude towards Iran, Lann said that any
prognostication would be possible only after the members of the
alliance formulate their policy towards Iran and the Middle East
in general.
The seminar is continuing. Two Armenian MPs, [Mger] Shakhgeldyan and
[Aleksan] Karapetyan, are expected to join the seminar during the
second half of the day.