‘Caucasian Four’ Meet at Summit

Parliamentary speakers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia met on the sidelines of the CIS Parliamentary Assembly in St. Petersburg on November 16.

Chairman of the Council of Federation of Russia Sergey Mironov said after talks that the sides discussed possibilities for the creation of “new parliamentarian mechanisms to address problems in this uneasy region,” but he did not specify details, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

A session of the parliamentary speakers – known as the ‘Caucasian Four’ – was last held in September, 2005 in Moscow. The next session is scheduled for next year in Tbilisi.

Meanwhile, Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said that Boris Grizlov, Chairman of the State Duma (lower house of the Russian Parliament), declined to hold talks with her.

“I have again received Mr. Grizlov’s refusal to meet, which I think is not a position [step],” RIA Novosti news agency reported quoting Burjanadze.

Grizlov already canceled one meeting with Burjanadze in April, 2006 on the sideline of the ceremony marking the Duma’s anniversary in St. Petersburg.

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