European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, Mr. Stefan Fule stated that throughout his trip to the South Caucasus he “felt the presence of regional tension and the effects of armed conflict which have so dramatically impacted on people's lives.”

“I appreciated in particular the possibilities to speak to internally displaced persons in Georgia and in Azerbaijan; and to learn at its headquarters about the challenging work of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia outside Tbilisi. I firmly believe that the personal accounts and stories of human tragedy have helped me to better understand the challenges facing the people of the South Caucasus. Conflicts have haunted the South Caucasus for a far too long time. In my meetings I conveyed that the EU's overall goal for the region is a stable, secure and prosperous South Caucasus,” he noted in his address to EP Committee on Foreign Affairs on April 28.

“The Armenia-Turkey normalization process is very important and, while I note the new development of last week, I am pleased that Armenia remains committed to pursue this process. On Nagorno-Karabakh, the EU will aim to step up its support to ongoing peace efforts. As for Georgia, it is clear that the existing Geneva talks - as the only forum where all partners sit together - must continue and lead to concrete results beyond incident prevention. The Georgian strategy with its principles of "engagement through cooperation" is a laudable initiative which the EU supports,” Mr. Fule concluded.