Palestinian Authority To Open Embassy In Baku

BAKU -- The Palestinian Authority has announced that it will open an embassy in Azerbaijan, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said after a meeting in Baku with his Palestinian counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki, that the embassy will open in Baku soon, though he did not give a date.

Al-Maliki expressed his gratitude to Azerbaijan for "supporting the people of Palestine in its fair struggle for independence."

Mammadyarov said Baku continues to support the establishment of an independent state for Palestine. Al-Maliki said both Azerbaijan and Palestine are facing "the same problem -- the problem of occupied territories."

He also stressed Palestine's interest in developing economic and educational ties. The two discussed the situation in the Middle East and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan and the Palestinian Authority have had relations via the Palestinian Embassy in Tashkent for
several years.