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relations between our English has been chosen as
counties are already at such an official language of
a high-level that it makes it GUAM.
easier to act as a group, as an
organization. Our people Q: You are very close to
have relations going back NATO and the EU.
into centuries. Could you say that you
are to a certain extent
Q: Which common their longer arm?
language do you use?
Russian? AZERBAIJAN: Longer
arm? Well, I would say that
AZERBAIJAN: For us this is rather a compliment,
four, Russian remains the but I am not sure that we
easiest one to communicate have yet deserved it! What I
in, which may not be the can tell you is that for
case in let us say five-ten Azerbaijan, one of the major
years from now for priorities of foreign policy is
objective reasons. When we integration into the
were brought up, Russian European and Euro-Atlantic
was the language that was structures of cooperation.
commonly used, as it was So when you speak about Her Excellency Mrs. Tatiana Lapicus,
called 'the language of European and Euro-Atlantic Ambassador of Moldova
international communica- structures, two organiza-
tion" and it was crucial to tions that immediately bigger organization which see this relationship as a
master it for your professio- come to mind are NATO continues to maintain the two-way street, when both
nal career. In the meantime, and the European Union. open-door policy to all eligi- sides benefit from the rela-
I must confess that I am Since 1994, all our countries ble European states. tionship. Now, after these
indeed happy that I am have started co-operating Azerbaijan and Georgia remarks you may judge for
fluent in this extremely rich with NATO in the frame- have individual action plans yourselves about the "longer
and beautiful language that work of Partnership for with NATO, while Ukraine arm" while I would say it
has been for me an Peace program. However, has a distinctive partnership. may be seen as an over-
irreplaceable tool to explore each of our different coun- Moldova is also involved in statement.
the sumptuous Russian tries have covered different certain activities within the
culture and through it even distances in this cooperation Partnership for Peace (PIP). MOLDOVA: It is just an
some of the world literature -- some are closer in their So each of our countries has impression. The fact that
and art. relations, other less. its own form of interaction GUAM includes the states
with NATO, but at the same with an aspiration of NATO
Q: You all speak diffe- What is important is the time we are all united in our or EU integration, does not
rent languages - political commitment of our desire to co-operate with give a sufficient framework
Ukrainian, Georgian, states of getting closer to NATO and to benefit to the in order to discuss seriously
Azeri and Moldavian. North Atlantic Alliance. maximum from this coope- this affiliation. Comparing
What is NATO? It was ration. with other regional and sub-
AZERBAIJAN: Indeed, all conceived as a defense regional initiatives, as the
of our languages belong to alliance almost sixty years As far as the European Stability Pact or Vishegrad
different linguistic groups -- ago; these days given the Union is concerned, here Group, GUAM is not a
Slavic, Romanic, Turkic and changed geopolitical picture also witness the similar pic- structure oriented directly
Caucasian groups of of the globe it is also under- ture. We cooperate closely towards the European inte-
languages. Therefore, to going certain transformation within the framework of the gration, even if there are
communicate between us becoming also military- so-called New Neighbour- some objectives of coopera-
we use Russian. Our political alliance After the hood Policy of the European tion in the socio-economical
younger generations use events of 9/11, it had to tran- Union which brings us even and human rights fields
more and more English form itself to be in a position closer to this Organization. similar with those of the
when they talk to each other to address new asymmetric Once again, we may be at Stability Pact.
simply because they were threats and challenges that varying speed there, but
not taught Russian at were qualitatively different what is really important is I might stress that in accor-
schools and its place is now from the ones the Alliance that we see ourselves as dance with its Constitution,
taken by other foreign faced at its inception back in natural and reliable partners the Republic of Moldova is
languages, like English, 1949. After two sets of and good friends of the a neutral State and for this
French, German. So, enlargements, it is now a European Union. And we reason we cannot be affihia-

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w w w . d i v a i n t e national.