LITHUANIA ENGAGES ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000622 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2016 TAGS: LH PREL AM AZ SUBJECT: LITHUANIA ENGAGES ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN REF: VILNIUS 442 Classified By: Pol/econ officer Traver Gudie for reasons 1.4 b,d ¶1. (C) Summary. Lithuania has sought in recent months to increasingly engage the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan to encourage democratic change and deeper Euro-integration. The Lithuanians view this engagement as a logical progression of the neighborhood policy that they pursue with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and the opposition in Belarus. President Adamkus visited Armenia and Azerbaijan this spring to offer his assistance guiding the countries through their European Neighborhood Policy Action Plans. MFA sources tell us that Armenia and Azerbaijan were not entirely receptive to Adamkus's vision of helping the South Caucasus deepen their ties to the EU. Lithuania has opened representative offices in Baku and Yerevan, with embassies to follow in 2007. End Summary. -------------- --- Lithuania pursues role as intermediary to Europe -------------- --- ¶2. (C) During the Lithuanian President's visits to Armenia (April 25-26) and Azerbaijan (June 8-9) and during the Armenian defense minister's June 15 visit to Vilnius, President Adamkus offered to help Yerevan and Baku implement the European Neighborhood Policy Action plan and embark on the path to European integration, a role that Lithuania sees itself playing already with Georgia. Jolanta Balciuniene, Head of the MFA's Central Asia and South Caucasus Division, told us that Lithuania views itself as a credible advocate of European integration to the Caucasus, and a natural advocate of an "open door" policy to European structures. Balciuniene, who participated in President Adamkus's meetings in Baku and Yerevan, told us that Azerbaijan's President Aliyev was more receptive than Armenia's President Kocharian, but neither president completely warmed to Adamkus's offer of increased Lithuanian advocacy on behalf the two countries to European structures. (Balciuniene would not explain how or why the leaders were "cool" to Adamkus's offer.) Balciuniene also told us that President Adamkus offered to help mediate the Azeri-Armenian dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, but Kocharian rejected the idea immediately and Aliyev gave "no real response." ¶3. (C) Lithuania's efforts to engage Armenia and Azerbaijan intensified in April 2006, when President Adamkus personally engaged (albeit unsuccessfully) to persuade Kocharian and Aliyev to attend the May 2006 Community for Democratic Choice (CDC) summit in Vilnius which promoted pro-democratic Euro-Atlantic themes (reftel). According to Balciuniene, both presidents originally seemed open to attending, but ended up sending delegates instead. (Those representatives, Armenian FM Oskanian and Azeri PM Rasi-deh, provided the conference's only divisive moment when they traded accusations over Nagorno-Karabakh.) -------------- -------------- Lithuania opening representation, assistance to Caucasus -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Lithuania has opened representative offices in Armenia and Azerbaijan (extensions of their Moscow and Ankara embassies, respectively),and plans to open full embassies in Yerevan and Baku in 2007. Lithuania has begun to provide (admittedly low-budget) technical assistance training to civil servants and military personnel that focuses on Euro-integration issues and harmonizing legislation with the EU acquis. A typical example of this assistance was a two-week program in May that hosted mid-level Armenian MOD officials for seminars in Vilnius on NATO enlargement. Lithuania also initiated an anti-corruption program that places a Lithuanian investigator in Armenia to help authorities there. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) Lithuania, in taking on the challenging task of reaching out to and mediating between Armenia and Azerbaijan, is rightly trying to expand its neighborhood policy beyond support for the color revolutions and the opposition in Belarus. Lithuania's will to expand ties to Armenia and Azerbaijan lends credibility to its claim that it aims to support democratic change and integration with the West throughout the entire region, not simply in color revolutions with an anti-Russian flavor closer to home. KELLY