This was stated by LINKS Executive Director, Dennis Sammut whilst addressing the 68th Rose Roth Seminar organized by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Baku and which this year is focusing on security in the Caspian Region. Others speaking on the same panel as Dennis Sammut were Dr Dov Lynch, Senior Advisor to the General Secretary of the OSCE and Dr Tawifg Mussayev, Policy Director at the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The session was chaired by the member of the German Bundestag and Former Foreign Minister of Germany Markus Merkel.
Replying to a question put by Oksana Antonenko of the International Institute for Strategic Studies Mr Sammut said that the increase in military spending by the three South Caucasus countries was a matter of concern but that the only way to stop this trend was by addressing the core problem of security deficit in the region and as long as the three countries felt that their security was imperilled the temptation to purchase more weapons was likely to continue. He said that there was an urgent need to introduce confidence building measures in the region as the level of distrust between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russia and Georgia and Armenia and Turkey was very high.
The seminar will last until Saturday and is attended by Parliamentary Delegations, representatives of international organizations and experts from Europe and Central Asia.
