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Slovene OSCE chairman leaving for tour of Caucasus on 30 March

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  • Slovene OSCE chairman leaving for tour of Caucasus on 30 March

    Slovene OSCE chairman leaving for tour of Caucasus on 30 March

    STA news agency
    30 Mar 05

    Ljubljana, 30 March: Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, the incumbent
    OSCE chairman, is leaving for a tour of the Caucasus on Wednesday [30
    March], making his first stop in Armenia. The crisis in Kyrgyzstan has
    somewhat changed the chairman's initial plans, however, so that he
    will break the tour for a visit to Bishkek, and then continue his
    journey in Georgia and Azerbaijan.

    Rupel is to head for Bishkek from Armenia, where he is due to hold
    talks later today, in a bid to find a peaceful solution to the
    crisis. He is to meet representatives of the Kyrgyz new leadership who
    toppled President Askar Akayev and seized control following protests
    over the recent parliamentary elections. [Passage omitted]

    Before visiting the hot spot, the OSCE chairman is scheduled to stop
    in Yerevan to meet Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, Foreign
    Minister Vartan Oskanyan and other Armenian leaders, as well as the
    political leader of Nagornyy Karabakh Arkadiy Gukasyan.

    The simmering conflict in Nagornyy Karabakh, the ethnic-Armenian
    enclave in Azerbaijan, is one of the issues in which the OSCE is
    trying to assist the parties involved to find a peaceful
    solution. Since February 2000, the organization has its office in
    Yerevan.

    After Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, Rupel is to make his next stop in the
    Georgian capital Tbilisi on Friday. There too, he is to meet all top
    officials, including President Mikheil Saakashvili. He is also due to
    take part in a round-table debate with representatives of the
    opposition.

    The OSCE chairman is to wrap up his tour on Saturday, with a visit to
    Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where he is to meet President Ilham
    Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizada, Foreign Minister Elmar
    Mammadyarov and representatives of the opposition and NGOs.

    The minister's entourage includes a delegation of corporate executives
    who already do business on the markets there or are keen to do so. A
    business conference will be organized in each of the countries, as
    well as separate talks with government economics officials and
    business partners. [Passage omitted]
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