EU TO INCREASE INVESTMENT TO SOUTH CAUCASUS – GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS General Newswire
February 20, 2007 Tuesday
The European Union (EU) is interested in developing cooperation
with the countries of the South Caucasus under the New Neighborhood
program, said the German Foreign Minister Frank- Walter Steinmeier,
whose country currently holds the EU presidency.
The EU wants to increase its investment in the region and help the
South Caucasus countries achieve democracy, Steinmeier told a press
conference in Yerevan on Tuesday.
He noted that Armenia, for example, has many steps yet to make,
regardless of the outcome of the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Steinmeier said that Germany and the EU are ready to provide all
assistance to Armenia in conducting democratic parliamentary elections,
for which purpose 300 international observers will be sent to the
country.
Steinmeier rejected the idea that Europe is interested in Azerbaijan
for its energy resources and in Georgia for its NATO ambitions.
He said the South Caucasus nations are the EU’s neighbors, and that
Europe needs the region to be stable, quite apart from the issue of
which country joins which military or other bloc in future.