Azernews.Az

BRUSSELS – The European Union should use robustly its soft power to tackle in a comprehensive way the many problems that South Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia) still face twenty years after they regained their independence.

This challenge to the EU was made by the authors of the report of two leading European research centers - the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels and LINKS think-tank in London. Report entitled "Addressing the security challenges in the South Caucasus: the case for a comprehensive, multilateral and inclusive approach" was published on Tuesday. Co-authors of the report are the Executive Director of LINKS, Dennis Sammut and analyst at EPC Amanda Paul.

The policy to support stabilisation in the South Caucasus in the last two decades was necessary, but that unless some of the root causes of instability were eliminated, there was a danger that the region would plunge into further war and turmoil, LINKS press service cited Sammut as saying. He made a speech at a policy dialogue organised by the European Policy Centre in Brussels this morning.

He recommended that EU initiate a diplomatic effort to launch a South Caucasus Security and Co-operation Conference, with a view to achieving a South Caucasus Security and Co-operation Treaty by 2014. This process should be multilateral in approach, modelled on the OSCE and working within the framework of that organisation, he said.

The initiative must be ambitious in looking at a range of problems and ways in which their solutions can be mutually reinforcing. It must also be inclusive, in bringing in all stakeholders, Sammut said.

Nagorno-Karabakh and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts remain unresolved in the South Caucasus.

The authors of report say the biggest challenge for the European Union was to turn Russia into a partner for resolving the problems of the Caucasus. This could be done perhaps through engaging more constructively with Russia in the dialogue on broader European security, initiated in 2009 through the so called "Corfu process".