By empty (4/30/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Foreign Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev said on 30 April that integration among Central Asian countries is \"unlikely to take place in the near future.\" The remarks came at the fifth session of the Foreign Ministry\'s Council for Foreign Policy. Toqaev noted that integration requires similar levels of structural development, a desire for integration, and an enormous amount of work.

By empty (4/30/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Azerbaijan and Armenia, which are locked in conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, are discussing a deal under which Armenian forces would cede territory in exchange for the re-opening of a rail link between their two countries, the Azeri foreign minister said. \"We are discussing various ideas, including the option of opening the railway with Armenia in exchange for it pulling back from the seven districts of Azerbaijan it has occupied,\" Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov told reporters. He added: \"The subject of our negotiations right now is how ready the sides are to make compromises.

By empty (4/30/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

After a four-hour discussion, the Georgian parliament\'s judicial and procedure committees jointly ruled on 30 April to annul the mandates of 10 Georgian deputies elected in late 1991 to the parliament of Abkhazia, and who since the end of the 1992-1993 civil war have been ex officio deputies of the Georgian parliament. Those 10 seats in the Georgian parliament will remain vacant until the central government restores its control over the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia. (Caucasus Press).