BAKU: Armenian Minister not to Attend Baku Conference

Armenian Minister not to Attend Baku Conference

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Nov 10 2004

Armenian Minister for Transport and Communications Andranik Manukian
will not participate in a conference entitled “Expansion of transport
relations between Caspian basin countries and neighboring states” to
be organized by the European Union in Baku November 13-14, according
to the Armenian Ministry. The Armenian official is not invited to
the event, the ministry said.

Manukian told local journalists on Tuesday that ‘time after time the
Azerbaijani side puts Armenia into a time-out situation under the
pretext of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict’.

Commenting on the matter, head of the Azerbaijan Transport Ministry
Secretariat Namig Hasanov said that the planned participation of the
Armenian minister in the conference is undesirable for Azerbaijan.

“The Azeri government and the Ministry of Transport state that no
relations will be established with Armenia unless it withdraws armed
forces from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan,” Hasanov stressed.

The two-day conference will discuss issues of expanding cooperation in
automobile, railway and air transport, ensuring security in automobile
transportation and the work done within the TACIS program.

The event will be attended by representatives of transport ministries
from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran, Georgia and Turkey.