34. Is concerned at the lack of progress on the establishment of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area; calls for concerted negotiations to be conducted once the requirements for deep and comprehensive free trade areas intended to form the basis of a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area have been met, taking due account of the socio-economic realities of each of the partner countries and provided that the social and environmental impact of these agreements is properly assessed in good time; deplores the fact that no real progress has been made by the various actors in creating the necessary conditions; encourages, ...[+++]also, the development of South-South bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation which would bring tangible benefits for the citizens of the countries involved and improve the political climate in the region;

ensure that the negotiations on the EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Armenia Association Agreements, in line with the demands made in Parliament's Resolution on the need for an EU strategy for the South Caucasus of 20 May 2010 and with all the OSCE Minsk Group Basic Principles enshrined in the ‘Aquila’ joint statement of 10 July 2009, are linked to credible commitments to making substantial progress towards the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including, for example, confidence-building measures such as general demilitarisation, the withdrawal of snipers from the line of contact, the withdrawal of Armenian forces from occupied territorie ...[+++]s surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, and their return to Azerbaijani control, and a mechanism for active incident-prevention and the investigation of cease-fire violations along the line of contact, the right of all internally-displaced persons and refugees to return to their home settlements and properties and international security guarantees that would include a genuine multinational peacekeeping operation in order to create suitable agreed conditions for the future legally-binding free expression of will concerning the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh;

The EU will continue to seek ways of developing and using all relevant policy tools in a concerted fashion, while taking into account agreed negotiating formats and processes.

Resolute and concerted action by the European Union, the United Nations, the United States, the Russian Federation and the Arab countries most concerned is essential and urgent to help re-open the way to political negotiations".

The Council is aware of the negotiations planned by Spain and the United Kingdom with a view to arriving at an acceptable solution to this question. The understanding is that it is up to the two countries concerned to establish the conditions on which the populations and entities involved may or may not participate in the process.

Commissioner Lamy confirmed the EU's commitment to push for concerted action in these areas, including in the context of a new WTO Round.