Brussels, 18/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev, met President Romano Prodi and Commissioners Patten, Lamy, Verheugen and Potocnik at the Commission on Tuesday.
Speaking to the press prior to the talks, Mr Prodi confirmed that the Commission was prepared to get involved to find a solution for the conflict of Nagornyi-Karabakh (between Azerbaijan and Armenia: Ed), if requested. We already hoped to attract the attention not only of the European Union, but also of the Council of Europe and public opinion to this conflict, said President Aliev, who was standing next to Mr Prodi. He added; the Minsk Group has a mandate from the OSCE (the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe), and "nobody will question it". The group is doing its best to pave the way for a settlement in Nagornyi-Karabakh, noted the Azerbaijani President, who added: solutions are only of any use "if there is nothing to negotiate", and there was no point "continuing just for the sake of negotiating". At the same time, he acknowledged that meetings between Foreign Ministers provided the opportunity to hold broader discussions, and that they "should continue". "We hope that they will have results", he added.