 | The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, is attending the Summit of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which began with an opening ceremony in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Dr Türk will address the OSCE Summit plenary session tomorrow morning local time. Today, he held several bilateral meetings on the margins of the OSCE Summit.
Dr Türk held separate meetings with the President of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan and the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Dr Ilham Aliyev. The talks focused primarily on the situation in the Nagorno–Karabakh region and the possibilities for a political solution to this long-running conflict. Dr Türk informed the two presidents of the contents of talks held with President Medvedev concerning the Nagorno–Karabakh issue on the occasion of his official visit to the Russian Federation. The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents explained to Dr Türk their views on proposals for resolving the conflict.
Over lunch, Dr Türk talked with the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai. They discussed issues concerning political consolidation in Afghanistan and the creation of conditions for the withdrawal of international forces. President Karzai said that satisfactory results have been achieved at this year's peace assembly. One was the inauguration of the High Peace Council, which has already started work and is counting on serious political dialogue. Dr Türk stressed that political processes must be a top priority of efforts to improve the situation in Afghanistan.
On the fringes of the OSCE Summit in Astana, Dr Türk also met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Rados³aw Sikorski, with whom he discussed the functioning of the European Union and measures for overcoming the economic and financial crisis. The Polish Foreign Minister informed Dr Türk about the priorities of the Polish EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2011.
Dr Türk and the Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kevin Michael Rudd, talked about the global economic situation and strategies to exit the crisis; Minister Rudd also presented Australian views on the issue of climate change. |