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Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has no plans to meet his Azerbaijanicounterpart Ilkham Aliyev in Moscow, RIA Novosti reports, citing theArmenian president's press-secretary.An informal summit of CIS and CSTO countries will take place on May 8 in Moscow.Azerbaijani media report that the presidents plan a meeting within theframework of the summit.
The Secretary-General of GUAM (Organization for Democracy and EconomicDevelopment) Valery Chechelashvili visited Georgia on May 3-5. He metthe Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister David Jalaganiya and discussedvarious issues, mainly the implementation of GUAM projects. The sidesexchanged their views on the session of the Council of NationalCoordinator of GUAM, Trend reports.
Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze signed a document withKazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev on cooperation between thetwo states' foreign ministries during a visit to the Kazakh capital ofAstana, VK reports.The projects the two countries plan to work on include the transit ofoil, gas and grain. There is a route going through the Black Sea portof Batumi, Georgia, to transport Kazakh oil to world markets.
Protocols on the rapprochement of Turkey and Armenia have been frozen,and not scrapped, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has toldthe Milliyet newspaper, APA reports.He said Turkey and Armenia will have low-key talks and then take stepsto regulate the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.
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
ran has proposed that Tajikistan should cancel the visa regime for citizens of both countries, Ferghana.ru reports. The issue was considered at negotiations in Dushanbe yesterday between delegations from Iran and Tajikistan. According to the Iranian ambassador to Tajikistan, Aliasgar Sherdust, Tajikistan is not ready for such a decision.
Another meeting on preventive measures and mechanisms of reaction to incidents, that took place in Gali on Wednesday, ended unsuccessfully, the Georgian Interior Minister said. Various issues were unresolved, including simplification of population transport across the border, said the head of the Georgian analytical department at the Interior Ministry, Shota Utiashvili.
On his visit to Turkey on May 11, Russian President Dmitry Medvedevwill discuss various issues, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan Vladimir Doroknhin said, Trendreports.Dorokhin considers the dialogue on stability in the South Caucasus oneof priority issues in relations with Turkey.He added that ties between Moscow and Ankara keep improving, tradeturnover between the countries is large, and they are participating inenergy projects in the south of Europe.
Negotiations on a Cyprus settlement will resume in the last week ofMay, RIA Novosti reports, citing the UN secretary-general's specialenvoy to the island, Alexander Downer.Both sides are ready to proceed with negotiations from where theystopped from May 24th, Downer told a public TV channel.
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 Georgian Minister of Economic Development Zurab Popolikashvilivisited Uzbekistan to meet with management at the Asian Bank ofDevelopment, Georgia Times reports.Popolikashvili met the first deputy head of Uzbekistan's government,Minister of Finance Rustam Azimov and Minister of Foreign EconomicTies Eler Ganiyev.This is the first top-level visit to Tashkent by a highly-placedGeorgian official in recent years.
The Russian Foreign Ministry did not receive any official requests from Azerbaijan to allow Turkey to join the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh, RIA Novosti reports citing Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Nesterenko.At the same time Nesterenko declared that Russia is open to Iran holding a trilateral meeting of foreign ministers from Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran on Nagorno-Karabakh. He noted that this meeting is Iran's only participation in the settlement process.
The President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso willvisit Azerbaijan in June with the framework of a South Caucasus tour,1news.az reports, citing APA.He plans to discuss cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU,Azerbaijani participation in Eastern Partnership program, democraticand economic reforms, the process of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement andAzerbaijani parliamentary elections set for the autumn.
Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze will visit Syria on May 1-2.Vashadze will meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Foreign MinisterValid al-Mualim and other officials, Trend reports.They will sign cooperation protocols. Vashadze will sign a cooperationagreement in the sphere of tourism with Syrian Minister of TourismSaadalakh aga al-Kal. He also plans to visit Kazakhstan on May 6.
The Iranian president’s advisor for press affairs and the head of theIRNA information agency Ali Akbar Javanfekr has proposed establishinga joint Iranian, Turkish, and Syrian news agency, Trend reports.Javanfekr made the suggestion to the Minister of Information of SyriaMuhsen Bilal yesterday. The Syrian minister welcomed the proposition.Syria’s chief of state information agency Adnan Mamud and the chief oftelevision Muin Khaidar were also present at the meeting.
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.
Council of Europe human rights commissioner Thomas Hammarberg arrivesin Tbilisi today. According to Trend the program of the visit has not beenrevealed yet.Preliminary information says that Hammarberg will meet the localauthorities in Tskhinvali. His main objective is the release of peopledetained by Georgia and Ossetia since the Russian-Georgian war inAugust 2008.
The Turkish foreign minister's advisor, Feridun Sinirlioglu, has metthe head of the Regional Administration of North Iraq, MassoudBarzani, in Erbil, 6news reports.At the meeting they discussed the results of Iraqi elections in March,the fight against insurgents, and the economic cooperation of Turkeywith the regional administration.Sinirlioglu said that the region has great economic potential.
The new Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Igor Popov, who replaced Yuri Merzlyakov, arrived in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from Yerevan today. According to Armenian media, Popov is meeting the leader of the Karabakh Armenians, Bako Sahakyan. Popov visited Ilkham Aliyev in Baku, then Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan, before visiting Nagorno-Karabakh, TURAN reports.
Restoring diplomatic relations with Russia is possible, the leader ofAlliance in the name of Georgia Irakli Alasania said at a meeting withteaching staff of the Diplomatic Academy, Trend reports.He believes that the main problem for national interests in the regionis Russia. But improving relations will complicate westernintegration, Europe and the USA point out.
