EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR SOUTH CAUCASUS HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE
EU special representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby gave a press conference at the ISR Plaza Hotel in Baku on February 20 to summarize his visit to Azerbaijan.
He said the goal of the visit was to estimate the amount of aid the European Union could provide to internally displaced persons (IDP) in Azerbaijan, discuss issues concerning the development of mass media in the country, as well as to exchange views on the course of implementation of the EU’s Neighborhood Policy Action Plan with Azerbaijan, and the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Mr. Semneby advised that during the visit, he had met with President Ilham Aliyev, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov, Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov, and Head of the Azerbaijan community of Nagorno-Karabakh Nizami Bahmanov, as well as with IDPs settled in the town of Sabirabad.
He said the EU supports the OSCE Minsk group’s efforts towards settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and expressed regret that the problem has not yet been resolved.
The EU special representative especially emphasized that return of the internally displaced people to their homes should be ensured as soon as possible. He said he had been deeply shocked by the meeting with IDPs, and described the Khojaly genocide as one of the most terrible crime.
Mr. Semneby also announced that within the European Neighborhood Policy Action Plan, the EU will allocate 100 million euro to Azerbaijan in the next three years.
Other news in this section
