Joao Soares

You will be in Baku from 13 to 16 March. What do you expect from your upcoming visit to the South Caucasus countries?

I have been planning to visit the Caucasus as president of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly for some time. I have expressed an interest in meeting the presidents, representatives of the government and parliamentarians as well as civil society in all three Caucasian states. In addition, I will visit the OSCE offices in Yerevan and Baku. In my view, the OSCE field offices are very important for the OSCE and I strongly support their work. During this visit, I hope to discuss Azerbaijan’s development and the priorities for the future. I also look forward to discussing the possibilities for enhancing cooperation with the parliament of Azerbaijan and, of course, to learning more about reforms and development. 

Kazakhstan is working on a road map for a Karabakh peace settlement in its capacity as OSCE chairman-in-office. Does this mean the OSCE has decided to step up its work to resolve the Karabakh conflict?

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is of course one of the topics that I would like to discuss during the visit. The Kazakh chairmanship of the OSCE and the Minsk Group co-chairs have a very important role to play in facilitating a solution, but it is up to the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan to agree on a solution. They need to have courage and political will to take this step. I think it is possible to solve the conflict. I know that the Kazakh chairmanship takes this responsibility very seriously and that they are working hard to get a solution to the conflict.

Does the OSCE have its own plan of action on Karabakh?

Of course, governments are responsible for the negotiations, but I would like to stress that parliamentary dialogue helps enhance understanding. As you know, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly special representative on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mr Göran Lennmarker, has been engaged in promoting exactly this type of dialogue for a number of years. He will continue his efforts.

Aliyah Fridman
News.Az