Busy few days for Cathy Ashton from the Caucasus to Afghanistan
(BRUSSELS2) The EU's chief diplomat met President Saakashvili in Georgia. It was in the seaside town of Batumi (it's nicer in this season than Tbilisi). Objective of the interviews: to launch negotiations for an association agreement with Georgia. Negotiations that can take between one to four years. Identical negotiations have also been launched by the EU with Armenia and Azerbaijan, in the Eastern Partnership and a slightly more assertive strategy for Central Asia.
A few hours the Georgian president had spoken with Bernard Kouchner, the opportunity for the French Minister of Foreign Affairs to raise a finger against the Russians for their non-respect of the ceasefire agreements of 2008.
The trips of the European and the French separate in Tbilisi. Cathy Ashton is heading to Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan, for an OSCE summit while Bernard Kouchner continues his trip, accompanied by his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle, to Kyrgyzstan. It will push on to Och, a city that is the subject of a "pogrom" in mid-June, which seems to be well organized (1), where the Franco-German couple will meet with NGOs and survivors of the massacre.
In the meantime, the EU's chief diplomat will make a detour via the Middle East, and in particular Gaza (from July 17 to 19), before joining her traveling companions for the International Conference on Afghanistan on July 20. .
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
(photo credit: Rustavi TV)
(1) The damage to Kyrgyzstan: well demarcated. The maps satellites...