G8 Foreign Ministers called Azerbaijan and Armenia to the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was mentioned in one of the items of the statement by the Foreign Minister of Japan, Masahiko Komura, as the chairman of the two-day ministerial meeting, which was completed today in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto, ITAR-TASS reports.
The Foreign Ministers of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, France, USA, Japan stated their support for the efforts of the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, directed toward prompt solution of the conflict. Ministers noted that Armenia and Azerbaijan must "demonstrate restraint" and take "serious steps" to reach an agreement.
At the same time, the Press Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Japan, Kadzuo Kodama, reported to the correspondent of ITAR-TASS that "wide discussions on this problem were not held at the conference".
The concluding document of the meeting reflected all themes, which were risen
by the G8 Foreign Ministers. They include the problems of Middle East, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, People's Democratic Republic of Korea, Myanmar, Sudan and Afghanistan. The participants in the conference paid special attention to questions of
nuclear disarmament and peaceful use of atom. Detailed discussions were held on
the theme of ensuring peace in different countries worldwide, as well as
questions of combating terrorism and organized criminality were touched upon.
The First Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Andrey Denisov, reported to the Russian journalists that "the G8 summit due in July will focus on only four questions. "This is Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan and Middle East. All these questions have been reflected in the statement by the Chairman and as a whole show the motion of discussions.
"We clarified the positions of the leading countries of world on important questions and, in a certain extent, prepared the international part of the agenda of the meeting of leaders in Hokkaido. We provided them with time and possibility to discuss other not less important issues," Denisov added. In addition to the statement by the Chairman, as a result of the meeting in Kyoto, a joint statement was adopted on Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. With regard to the last document, the Deputy Minister noted that not all in it satisfied the Russian side, but "the base approaches coincide with the remaining G8 countries ". Furthermore, he reminded that "absolute priority" for Russia is the unity of "Groups of G8".
The meeting completed today in Kyoto is last preparation stage for the G8 summit, which will take place on 7-9 July in the Japanese Island of Hokkaido. Over the past several months, the conferences of the heads of financial, law-enforcement, energetic, social, ecological and other departments of the leading industrial countries of planet have already taken place in various cities of Japan.