YEREVAN, MARCH 26, 2004. (RIA NOVOSTI). The meeting between the Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers in Prague was postponed because Azerbaijan was not prepared for it, said the European Union special representative for the South Caucasus, ambassador Heikki Talvitie.
"I do not exactly know all the reasons for which the authorities of Azerbaijan decided to postpone the meeting. But I believe that they were simply not ready to hold it," Talvitie said.
At the same time, the ambassador stressed that the point at issue was the postponement of only one meeting, and this fact should not be assessed as the termination of the negotiating process on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Talvitie also said that during his meetings in Baku he became convinced that the Azeri leaders understood there was no alternative to the negotiating process.
