PACE Political committee meeting held in Baku

The chief of the committee, members, some other officials of the PACE, Azerbaijani representatives in the PACE, the ministers Ramil Usubov, Fikret Mammadov, Elmar Mammadyarov and other officials are participating in the meeting.

The chairman of the committee Abdulgadir Atesh said that, interesting thought exchange will be held in the meeting. The chairman reminded that it is the first meeting held in Baku and Azerbaijan was the member of the Council of Europe in 2001.

"The most troublesome issue concerning Azerbaijan is Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The council has resolution 1416 for settling the problem. The author of the resolution Russell Johnston who participates in the meeting will have interesting thoughts about the resolution. Generally, the stability in South Caucasus is important for us. We had worked out a document concerning it. The members of the committee on Karabakh participate here. They will have meetings," he said.

Saying that Azerbaijan is developing, the chairman noted that there are some problems in the field of freedom of speech and freedom of media. He said that the closure of ANS TV caused discontent.

"The co-rapporteurs Tony Lloyd and Andreas Herkel will talk to Samad Seyidov on this issue," he said.

"Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov noted that Azerbaijan is developing economically. The minister said that the total volume of output was 26% last year, but this year this number is 36% and noted that this is great success. We also should achieve the development of the non-oil sector. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is already in use. Azerbaijan exports 1m barrel oil in a day. Soon Kazakhstan also will join this project.

After the total volume of the export will be 25m oil in a year," he said. Touching upon Nagorno Karabakh problem the Minister said that the negotiations are held to settle the problem.

"The negotiations should be sincere. These meetings are constructive. The main issue is whether Armenian government wants to step forward in this issue, or the government wants to gain dividend in the eve of parliament and presidential elections. Out position is to liberate occupied territories and remove displayed Azerbaijani citizens. After that, Azerbaijan can cooperate with Armenia," he said.