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Co-chairs of negotiations in Geneva from OSCE, UN and EU arrived to Tbilisi today. According to Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalanadze, the co-chairs will have meeting in Tbilisi to discuss various issues planned for June 8th on the 11-round of talks, Trend reports.They will meet Deputy Interior Minister Gigoy Bokeriya to coordinate the exact schedule of meetings in Tbilisi.
Ambassador Tina Kaidanow, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State forEuropean and Eurasian Affairs had a closed-door meeting with Georgianparliamentary and non-parliamentary opposition, News Georgia reports.The main issue of discussion was the May 30 local elections in Georgiaand the Tbilisi mayoral elections.
"At a meeting with the president of the Fund of Heydar AliyevMekhriban Aliyeva we discussed various important issues concerningAzerbaijan and Georgia. Territorial unity is a sensitive question forall of us. New spheres of cooperation were determined at the meeting",the first lady of Georgia Sandra Elizabeth Rulofs said in Baku at ameeting with a working group on Azerbaijani-Georgianinterparliamentary relations, Trend reports.
The International Monetary Fund declared Iran the world's 18th largesteconomic country, with a GDP of $828 billion relative to thepurchasing power of its currency in 2009, the Russian service ofIranian State TV and radio reports.According to the IMF report, at a time when the economies of manycountries in the world suffered from the financial crisis, Iran saw anincrease in GDP and jumped by one position in the list of globaleconomies.
The 27-member EU council of foreign ministers has issued a mandate for negotiations on bilateral agreements between the EU and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, RIA Novosti reports, citing a spokesman from the council.The agreement on the association, which does not provide for EU membership, replaces bilateral agreements on partnership and cooperation.The decision was made by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the EU, Catherine Ashton.
A delegation headed by the leading specialist of the World Bank’s (WB)financial sector, Michael Edwardson, arrived in Baku on May 10th,1news.az reports, citing the Azerbaijani State Committee on Securities(SCS). The visit ends on May 18th.The committee plans to discuss with the WB specialists development ofcooperation on development of securities market of Azerbaijan andpreparation of a joint project ‘Modernization of the Capital Market’.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did not discuss sanctionsagainst Iran with diplomats from the UN Security Council, RIA Novostireports, citing the Japanese envoy at the UN, Yuki Takako.The meeting, which took place on Thursday night and went on into theearly hours of Friday, was organized at the initiative of Mottaki. Of15 members of the Security Council, only Nigeria and Gabon were notpresent. The five permanent members with the veto, Russia, China, theUSA, Great Britain, France, participated.
The Turkish Republic plans to open a consulate-general in Simferopol,Rosbalt reports, citing the press-service of the Crimean Council ofMinisters.According to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, ties betweenthe countries can reach a new level. The minister said that atnegotiations in Kiev they agreed to organize a ferry service betweenYalta and Turkey's Sinop. They also plan to form a Turkish-Ukrainianfree-market zone. Turkey proposed scrapping the bilateral visa regime.
Coordinated efforts are needed to battle the rise of Islamophobia,intolerance and discrimination against Muslims, Organization of theIslamic Conference Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told theOSCE Permanent Council in Vienna today, reports Trend."The goals and objectives of the OIC are not much different from thoseof the OSCE, as both our organizations are devoted to the cause ofinternational peace and security," Ihsanoglu said. "It is the exactmoment for the OSCE and OIC to put together tangible and
The first medical business forum 'MEDRuSS-2010' will be held in thepublishing house of Grozny on 18-19 May, on issues of implementinginnovative medical technologies in the Republic of Chechnya, Yuga,ru reports.“It was hard to imagine anything like this 10 years ago”, saidchairman of the Association of Small Business in the Republic, MaximBugayev.The healthcare program is one of Chechnya's priority strategic issues,Bugayev explained.
18 local and 4 international non-governmental organizations willmonitor the elections in Georgia on May 30th. They have alreadysubmitted their requests to the Central Electoral Commission, Trendreports.
The Turkish Security Council has discussed the issue of the 1915killing of ethnic Armenians and the prospects of bilateral protocolswith Armenia.According to News.am, the Security Council session lasted over sixhours and saw the participation of President Abdullah Gul, PremierRecep Tayyip Erdogan, Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug and otherofficials.
The Rustavi-2 and Imedi television companies have hired US companyEdison Research to conduct an exit poll in Georgia, Georgia Timesreports.Edison Research works with the world’s leading companies, and carriedout exit polls at the last US election. Their representatives havealready presented plans of their work to Georgian non-governmentalorganizations.
The US does not consider the Iranian army a strong force, 1news.az reports, citing the Israel newspaper “Yedioth Ahronot”. The paper cited a US reconnaissance report that said while the Iranian army numbered some 20 million soldiers, it had poor and outdated equipment.
The Moscow-based company Eneton has won an open auction to carry out an exploration project and construction work and will build a high-voltage 110 kilowatt power line between the “North Portal” substation and Nizhniye Ruki village in South Ossetia, RIA Novosti reports. According to Russian government regulations on financing work in South Ossetia from the federal budget, the power line must go online this year. The line will be 42 km long.
The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group will discuss the Karabakh settlement in Moscow today at a full meeting, Armenia Today reports.On April 21 the American and Russian co-chairs Robert Bradtke and Igor Popov visited Baku and met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov.French co-chair Bernard Fassier will join his colleagues in Moscow today.
Ukraine is no longer interested in future cooperation within theframework of GUAM, the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, VladimirLitvin, said at a news conference. "It seems that nowadays most of the member-states are no longerinterested in this project," he said. He also added that EU Easternpartnership is more attractive for Ukraine.
Experts from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will file a report on the current situation in Kyrgyzstan at the next Security Collective Council session. The date for the session has not been set yet, reports RIA Novosti. The CSTO delegation spent several days in Kyrgrzstan in April. The aim was to find out more about unrest in the country and complie a detailed report for the Security Council.
Turkish Foreign Ministers Ahmet Davutoglu discussed the events in Kyrgyzstan with Kazakh Foreign Minister and the OSCE Chairman Kanat Saudabayev by telephone, reports Trend with reference to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman.During the conversation Davutoglu called for elaboration of a general political course concerning the matter. Davatoglu noticed that Turkey is ready to contribute to stability and political dialogue in Kyrgyzstan.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle today, reports RIA Novosti, citing the president’s press service."In the course of the meeting the sides exchanged views on various areas of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, the Eastern Partnership Program, energy cooperation and other issues," the statement said.
