Caucasian countries eye EU, NATO at conference in Slovak capital

Caucasian countries eye EU, NATO at conference in Slovak capital

Radio Slovakia, Bratislava
19 Mar 04

Announcer Representatives of the countries of the Caucasus region
confirmed in Bratislava today their interest in further rapprochement
with the EU and NATO. At the Enlarged Europe: New Agenda conference in
Bratislava top political representatives are discussing the fate of
the countries that will, after the EU and NATO enlargement, find
themselves beyond the border of these groups. Robert Petras reports:

Reporter Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are the countries that see
their future in the European space. However, the Caucasian region is
troubled by many unresolved conflict, the dispute over Nagornyy
Karabakh among them. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev appealed to
the conference participants:

Aliyev in English faded into Slovak translation We would like very
much the international community to be more involved in the
conflict. We can see the EU interest, which is prepared to resolve the
dispute peacefully. We, too, want to tackle the problem at the
political level. However, I have to stress that our patience has its
limits.