Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Nov 10 2004
European Diplomats Stress Azerbaijan’s Important Role in Maintaining
Stability in Region
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received political
directors of the German and French foreign ministries Michael Scheffer
and Stanislaw Leserve de Labulier.
Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan has established high-level cooperation
with the European Union, Council of Europe, NATO, UN and other
international organizations.
Azerbaijan’s recent joining the European Union’s “New Neighborhood”
and NATO’s “Individual Partnership Plan” programs testifies to
expansion of the country’s relations with these organizations, the
foreign minister stressed.
Mammadyarov noted that his country’s leadership attaches great
importance to integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures
and stepping up such values as human rights, democracy and civil
society.
Touching upon the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani diplomat
underlined that official Baku adheres to settlement of the conflict
based on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity within international
legal norms.
“The Azerbaijani side makes every effort to support the activity of
the OSCE Minsk Group, which tackles solution of the Nagorno Karabakh,
but not to achieve its replacement with any other organization,”
Mammadyarov underscored. The European diplomats, in their turn, stated
that Azerbaijan plays an important role in maintaining stability in
the South Caucasus region and that the country has great potential
to take a leading position within international organizations.
The parties also exchanged views on regional and international
situations and discussed issues related to determination of the Caspian
legal status and Azerbaijan’s role in fighting the international
terrorism.