South Caucasus strategic region for EU -- Sarkozy.

YEREVAN, October 6 (Itar-Tass) -- The South Caucasus is a strategic
region for the European Union, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.
"South Caucasus is a strategic region for the European Union and
associative and partner ties with the European Union will facilitate
prosperity, strengthening of democracy and dialogue in all three Caucasus
countries," Sarkozy said in an interview with the Mediamax news agency
ahead of his visit to Yerevan to begin on Thursday, October 6.
"France wants the European Union to establish closer relations with
the countries of the region, beginning with Armenia," he stressed.
"The European Union has recently reinforced its role in the South
Caucasus and I am very glad about it. At first, the EU did it through the
European Neighborhood Policy, and then within the Eastern Partnership
which France backed from the very beginning," the president said.