Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Calls on Europe to Abandon ‘Double Standards’ on ‘Frozen Conflicts’ in GUAM Territory

Latvia, Riga /Special Corr. Trend N.Kuznetsov / The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, called on Europe to abandon 'double standards' on 'frozen conflicts' which exist in the GUAM territory, Trend Special Correspondent reports from Riga.

"Double standards are implemented with regards to the conflicts which exist in the territory of Azerbaijan and other GUAM countries - Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova," the Minister said in his speech at the high-level international conference entitled The Baltic States and the EU Neighbourhood Policy in Riga on 23 November.

According to the Minister, all conflicts should be settled on the base of the international law. He called on Europe to abandon 'double standards'.

A project for the resolution regarding lingering conflicts in GUAM, in particular Dniester ( Moldova), Nagorno-Karabakh ( Azerbaijan) and Georgia-Abkhazia was developed and included in the agenda of the UN General Assembly at the end of 2006.

In his speech, Mammadyarov touched on Azerbaijan's approach to the EU Neighbourhood Policy. The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan said that the partner countries can co-operate with regards to transport, energy, communication, etc. "Such co-operation may be effective for the EU and all partner countries," he said.

According to the Minister, Azerbaijan participates in the energy dialogue with the EU. "Such co-operation provides new opportunities to deliver energy resources from the Caspian region to Europe," Mammadyarov said.

The conference is being organized by the Latvian Foreign Ministry and the Baltic Assembly in collaboration with the European Commission representation in Latvia.

Taking part in the conference are more than 200 prominent politicians and experts from approximately 30 countries around the world. Participating in the conference are the Speakers of all three Baltic state parliaments and the Estonian Foreign Minister. Armenia, Georgia, Belarus and Moldova are represented at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers

Also attending the conference are the Vice-President of the European Parliament Diana Wallis, the EU Special Envoy for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, and the Director of the European Neighbourhood Policy Coordination, European Commission, Rutger Wissels.

In the evening of 23 November, Group of GUAM Friends in the European Union will be presented within the conference in Riga. Group of GUAM Friends in the European Union was challenged to be established by the President of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus, in October in the 10th anniversary of 'Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM' and at the meeting of the Presidents of Lithuania, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Georgia in Vilnius during the conference on energy security. The President of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus, made this initiative to assist GUAM countries in integration into Europe.

As an alternative to CIS the four post-Soviet republics Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, established the GUAM format in 1997 during the summit of the presidents of the European Union countries in Strasbourg. In 2006, at the first summit of the organization in Kiev it was decided to announce GUAM an international organization with a new name of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM.