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New EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia arrived to Azerbaijan

04 September 2011 18:31 (UTC +04:00)

That will be his first visit to the region within his new mandate. During his stay in Baku, Ambassador Lefort is expected to meet the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defence, the Speaker of Parliament and the Chairman of the Parliamentâ€™s Foreign Affairs Committee and others.

"I am glad to be here. The EU attaches great importance to cooperation with the South Caucasus region and Azerbaijan. EU has a lot of things to do in the region, which has few conflicts. And that is the reason that I decided to visit all three capitalsÂ»- F. Lefort stated in the airport after arriving.

During his stay in Baku F. Lefort will meet the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defence, the Speaker of Parliament and after that will visit Tbilisi and Yerevan.

Philippe Lefort is a French diplomat of more than 20 yearsâ€™ experience. He has devoted large parts of his career to the Caucasus and Russia, among other things as French Ambassador in Georgia (2004-2007) and as Deputy Head of Mission at the French Embassy in Russia (2007-2010). Since 2010, he has been the Head of Continental Europe General Directorate at the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. On 1 September 2011 F. Lefort started his duties as new EUSR for the South Caucasus.