South Caucasus Parliamentary Assembly

ArmenPress reports that Nino Burjanadze, Speaker of Georgian parliament, Deputy Armenian National Assembly Speaker Tigran Torosian and Siyavush Novruzov, a parliament member from Azerbaijan's ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party, have signed a tripartite memorandum to establish a regional Parliamentary Assembly.

Speaking to journalists afterwards, Nino Burjanadze said that despite the existing problems between Armenia and Azerbaijan, politicians of these countries sat side by side to discuss their differences in various issues. She also stressed the importance of this initiative saying it would promote regional stability and solution of a range of complicated problems.

Interesting to note that while Burjandze signed the memorandum on behalf of Georgia, the Speakers of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Parliaments instead sent along their deputies or even MPs. Neverthess, A1 Plus reports that the South Caucasus Parliamentary Assembly will start functioning from January 2007.

In related news, A1 Plus also says that the Armenian Foreign Minister, Vartan Oskanian, met with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mamedyarov, in Paris on 17 June within the framework of ongoing negotiations to resolve the conflict over the mainly Armenian-inhabited territory of Nagorno Karabagh. Interestingly, no details are known.