Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-25-Speech-2-251"
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"en.20051025.21.2-251"2
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".
With regard to the South Caucasus and the states bordering the Caspian Sea, this region and its development have become increasingly important issues since enlargement. I am therefore very happy to say that this has now been included in our Neighbourhood Policy. This was done last June and since then we have been preparing proposals for draft action plans with each of the three countries concerned. The partner countries themselves are developing their own priorities for such action plans.
The Commission will start consultations on those action plans very soon. An EU troika is visiting the region as we speak, from 24 to 28 October, and its assessment will indeed be very helpful as we start our discussions.
Strengthening democracy, the rule of law, improving business and the investment climate for sustainable economic development, and encouraging people-to-people contacts are matters of utmost importance. These are key EU priorities for the whole region.
Further priorities under the ENP include regional cooperation and conflict settlement. The EC countries will, in the meantime, provide substantial support to the partner countries of the South Caucasus region and, by way of example, I could cite our deep involvement in the reform of the judiciary in Azerbaijan and Georgia, our support for institutional, legal and administrative reform in Armenia, or our rehabilitation efforts in those parts of Georgia especially affected by frozen conflicts, such as South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
We also hope to encourage greater cooperation between and with the countries bordering the Caspian Sea. Let me give just a few examples. We regard the process of EU-Black Sea/Caspian Basin energy and transport cooperation, launched at the Baku ministerial meeting late last year, as a very important vehicle for encouraging broader regional cooperation. We are also giving due attention to the environmental situation in and around the Caspian Sea, because it is the largest saltwater lake in the world but also one of the richest oil reserves. So this is a region that will be an increasing focus of our attention under the Neighbourhood Policy."@en1
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