Discuss the economic and political motives for European expansion into Essay

Discuss the economic and political motives for European expansion into Africa in the 19th Century - Essay Example However, in the 19th century, European expansion was much greater and had new motives: political, economic and social. This essay discusses the economic and political motives for European expansion into Africa in the 19th century. Common excuses for the19th century colonial expansion were the spread of civilization, education, and Christianity (Colonialism in Africa, slide 5). However, these were only pretexts. There were other economic and political reasons for this expansion, which were mostly concealed. Industrial Revolution is the classic reason given when the economic motive is explored. Industrial revolution created a sharp need for raw materials, new resources, new markets and new investment outlets for surplus capital (Colonialism in Africa, slide 6). There was interplay of various factors, such as unemployment resulting from the large scale industrialisation. Europe dealt with this problem by acquiring new colonies for the purpose of finding an alternative place for such surplus population. These settler colonies served different purposes from the non-settler colonies. The economic motives for colonial expansion are testified by the colonial economic policies that enabled exploitation of natural and human resources. Development of infrastructure for easy access to and transportation of resources and education for the development and eventual exploitation of human resources are examples (Nationalism and Decolonization, slide 3). While the economic imperatives derived from industrial revolution spurred the eventual colonization of Africa, the political impetus was equally powerful in the European expansion and it rose from inter-European competition for pre-eminence and power (Colonialism in Africa, slide 7). Colonies around the globe symbolised power and various European powers competed to acquire colonies, establish stakes and declare exclusive rights in particular territories and waterways across Africa. The scramble for Africa was so that

Business Operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business Operations - Essay Example The essay "Business Operations" talks about the businesses operations in general by the example of Brazelia Med Spa company. The paper also analyzes what skills the effective manager should possess. Brazelia Med Spa is a B2C (Business to Customer) business with products and services ranging from medical, Intravenous nutrition, medical aesthetic, massage therapy, weight management, aesthetic, body care, chronic pain sports injury, and labs. There are also a number of procedures conducted in this institution such as intravenous nutrition therapy, Botox/Dysport and dermal fillers, weight management, and hormone replacement therapy. There are other Spas in Florida that compete with Brazelia in offering these services. Brazelia is a for-profit institution that has been open to the public since the year 2007 and hence has a strong customer base. This institution's mission is "to bring family's health to an optimal and harmonious balance". During my internship, I worked at the reception, insurance department, and financial department. My roles and responsibilities included organizing patients' applications alphabetically, filling out patients' information such as name, cell number, date of birth, and email address in a sheet, and putting all the important patients' details in the system. It was also my duty to ensure that all patients' confirmed their appointments. And it is worth noting that managers face many challenges blending knowledge, skills, ambitions, and expertise of a diverse group of employees.

Criminal Liability Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Criminal Liability - Assignment Example The fact that Neil died as a result of the scuffle with John, John may be held liable for manslaughter. Note that under the Homicide Act 1957, a person may be charged with voluntary manslaughter if death resulted from the act of another. Note that John came back and confronted Neil and he bodily pushed Neil to the ground then kicked him. Even if John did not intend to kill Neil, he is still guilty of maliciously inflicting bodily harm against Neil. When John came back to the scene to confront Neil, he already showed the elements of a guilty mind or mens rea as he had the chance to think things over when he turned away. The fact that Neil died in the hospital after he contracted MRSA does not excuse John from liability of his death.As stated by the court in the case of R v Blaue , where the subsequent events that lead to the death of the victim are foreseeable consequences of the incident and such foreseeable consequences would not have happened if not for the unlawful acts of the acc used, then there is no break in the causation and the accused may still be held liable for the death of the victim. In the case of John, he may be held liable for voluntary manslaughter under the Homicide Act 1957. However, John may use provocation as a mitigating circumstance to reduce his culpability. In order for John to make use of the defense of provocation, he should prove to the court that he is a reasonable man as defined by the court in the case of R v Ahluwalia   and he should prove to the court.

ENGH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ENGH - Essay Example imes, she would sit with my friends and I as we watched the other neighborhood kids turning on the fire hydrants and running underneath the water spray just to cool off. During those instances, she would ask us to each tell a story about what we thought the other kids were doing under the spray of water. While my friends and I made up stories about the scenes unfolding before us, grandmother would pull up her rocking chair and ask us to sit around her. This was often the signal for the game that she loved to play with us. She would ask a child to start the story and then point to another child to continue the story and we would go on like that for around an hour or so until she would say â€Å"last 4 kids need to help end the story.† That was how we whiled away our time during our youth. My grandmother encouraged us to let our imagination soar and get as creative as possible with the stories that we were chaining together. It was really sad that we could only practice the chain story telling when my grandmother was staying with us. Our parents did not have the time to play with us the same way that she did. As for me, I enjoyed the story telling activity so much that I wanted to keep doing it even while my grandmother was away. That is why I once asked my mother to buy me a notebook and some extra pens. I would sit on our front step and observe the people who passed me by. Then I would jot down something that I observed about that person and what I thought he or she was thinking as she walked past. Before I knew it, I had begun to write simple stories of the fictional kind. Maybe it was because of the constant repetition of the activity, it maybe it was the enjoyment that I got from releasing my imagination and allowing it to soar. But I discovered later on that I had a natural talent and love for fictional writing. My grandmother was my first ever editor and my biggest fan. She encouraged me to continue discovering my writing talent in a way that my parents

Research Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Research Plan - Essay Example These trading companies, once in a foreign land, used to try influencing the ruling class in order to strengthen their business goals. Gradually these companies also succeeded in capturing power in those countries, thus giving rise to the practice of imperialism. This practice also led to many wars around the world resisting the imperialistic trends. But the recent trend is different from the imperialistic trends. Now the liberalisation policies have opened up the turf for competition from all around. With multinational companies reaching out to almost all parts of the world, the smaller domestic companies have started feeling the competition. To study this phenomenon we will; 2. How the e-business saga emerged in the developed world followed in quick succession by the developing world nations. Asian region and some of the so-called lesser developing nations have emerged as key players in this globalisation regime. E-Business or online business activities are closely linked to the process of industrialisation, computerisation, IT penetration and overall development of the country’s economy. Developed nations in the western world have played a leading role in such matters; therefore, it is quite natural that these economies played a key role in the development and proliferation of e-business activities. But as the profit margins started shrinking, the economies of scale coupled with the size of the available market started becoming major factors in carrying forward the e-business opportunities. The Asian region led by countries like China and India, with billions of population and an equally dependable IT infrastructure started attracting the multinational companies (MNCs). On the one hand these MNCs started depending on the Asian region for production of goods and services because of lower production costs, on the other hand the availability of huge market also became an

Ronald Ernest Paul Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ronald Ernest Paul - Essay Example He was criticizing the same Congress in which he was part of it. Many critics observed that the critics from Paul were meant for individual benefits especially as campaign tools. He was quoted in his speech saying, â€Å"I think Congress is about 20 years behind† (Ron Paul’s Speech). In his speech ,he dwelt on the on the need to critically articulate the issues related to foreign and domestic strategy issues, which he said they negatively impacted on the economy and he said the country was headed to a worst economy crisis. It is ironical that Ron Paul’s criticism was on the same congress, which he is part of. He is one of the unsuccessful members of the congress, yet he appears the top critic. Ronald Ernest â€Å"Ron† Paul is one of the renowned United States Congressman and emerged to be repeat presidential candidature, having contented for the presidency in 1988, 2008, and 2012. In the year 1988, he was presidential candidate for Libertarian Party in the 12 years break in the years when he was Republican Congressman. In 2008, Ronald Ernest was presidential nominee for Republican Party. He believes on the supremacy of the Constitution and he never proposes a bill to be approved in the Congress, unless it is provided in the constitution. He is presently contesting for presidency under the nomination for Republican Party in the United States (Schoen & Rasmussen 102). ... 8 contestation for presidency under Republican Party, he has been the chief architect behind advocacy movement Campaign for Liberty and his ideas has been evidence in his speeches, journals, and books. He has become a leading critic in the aspect of civil liberties, gay marriage, taxation policies, foreign policies, health care, entitlements, and abortion. Paul has the believe and understanding that liberties in the market , reducing business regulations and lowering taxes will boost the market strategies ,as well as promoting favorable business environment . According to him, these aspects will have positive impacts on the economy of the United States and also increase employment opportunities within the market environment. He is the chief critic on Federal Reserve, arguing that this will present serious implications on the economy of the country. He said in his speech while in Michigan University addressing students that this will lead to the aspect of bust and boom leading to fina ncial crisis both in the United States and in the global platform. The boom and bust within the economy will promote unethical business practices (Schoen & Rasmussen 89). In his speech he said that, â€Å"The federal government does a lousy job providing the atmosphere necessary to be competitive and be able to compete around the world because they overtax and they over regulateâ€Å". In his entire speech in Michigan, he put more emphasizes on the element of abolishing the Federal Reserve ,an economic entity that he argued that is guilty of collapsing the U.S dollar value and obstructing ,not assisting ,the U.S economy. He said in his speech that the labor policies should be revisited by the Congress where he advocated for a countrywide Right to work policy (Schoen & Rasmussen 123). . He said

Azerbaijani-Armenian Conflict Essay Example for Free

Azerbaijani-Armenian Conflict Essay When owing to their strategic and geopolitical situation Azerbaijani khanates got involved into the stratagem of fight which was led by Russia, Iran and the Ottoman empire for the spheres of influence some Azerbaijani entities were forced to conclude vassal agreements in order to defend their interests. Thus, under the treaty of 1805 the independent Azerbaijani khanate of Karabagh was placed under Russian overlordship. As a result of Russian-Iranian war of 1804-1813 and on the basis of the peace treaties of Gulistan and Turkmanchay, the Karabakh khanate together with Erivan and Nakhchevan khanates was included into the Russian Empire . It was exactly in that period when Armenians started to move to the region of Nagorny Karabakh in Azerbaijan which was inhabited mainly by the Azerbaijanis and the descendants of the ancient Albanians. This fact was proved by the famous Russian diplomat and playwright A. S. Griboyedov. Later, in 1836, after the second mass resettlement of Armenians in 1828-1829, the Russian authorities abolished Albanian Christian patriarchate and donated its property to the Armenian Church. After that when the western region of former Albania – the region of Karabakh lost its statehood and the church lost its independence, the local Albanian population was subjected to Gregorianization (Armenization) . After the proclamation of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic- the first democratic state in the muslim East on May 28,1918, one of the first moves of its government was the cession of the city of Erivan (Yerevan) to the Republic of Armenia which though proclaimed its independence didn’t have its own land. In that period Azerbaijan’s foreign policy was oriented towards the development of friendly and good-neighbourly relations with Armenia. Unfortunately, nurturing annexing plans the Dashnak government of Armenia made claims for Nakhchevan, Zangezur and Karabakh hich formed a part of the Azerbaijani state, though the Armenian minority of Karabakh took a decision at their Congress in 1919 to remain within the Republic of Azerbaijan . Armenia’s claims to this territory caused conflict and led to a murderous war with Azerbaijan in 1918-1920. Azerbaijan’s independence was violated after the invasion of the XI Red Army of Soviet Russia that proclaimed the Azerb aijan Soviet Socialist Republic on April 28, 1920. In 1922 the Azerbaijan SSR formed a part of the USSR, within which the Republic’s independence was of a formal character. In response to the territorial claims of the Armenian SSR at its session on July 5, 1921 the Caucasian bureau of the CC of the RCP (b) rendered a decision to leave Nagorny Karabakh within the Azerbaijan SSR , considering it primordial Azerbaijani territory. At the same time taking into account the interests of the local Armenian population the government of Azerbaijan was proposed to grant broad autonomy to Nagorny Karabakh. On July 7, 1923 the Central Executive Committee of Azerbaijan issued a decree â€Å"On the formation of the autonomous region of Nagorny Karabakh†. Thus issuing this norm-setting act and taking into account the interests of its citizens of Armenian nationality the government of the Azerbaijan SSR formed an autonomy on the territory of Azerbaijan. At the same time, 300 thousand compact community of Azerbaijanis living in Armenia were refused to get even cultural autonomy both by the central government of the USSR and the government of the Armenian SSR. It infringed on their rights and finally resulted in their repeated deportations and dramatic forced eviction from the territory of Armenia in this century, including more than 200. 000 people in 1988-1989. Chronology of the conflict since 1988. The history of the second in the XX century Armenian-Azerbaijani armed conflict started in February 1988 when the session of the regional Soviet of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAR) of the Azerbaijan SSR took a illegal decision about the withdrawal from Azerbaijan and joining Armenia. The tragedy that overstepped the line of the local confrontation and transformed into one of the most prolonged and murderous conflicts in post-war Europe is not based on confessionalism or ethnic factor. Its roots lie in the expansionism and the policy of territorial aggression the aim of which is to extend the territory of one state by means of armed annexation and forcible seizure of a part of the territory of another sovereign state, member of the United Nations, OSCE and other international organizations. Anticonstitutional actions of the separatist groups in the region of Nagorny Karabakh which were supported and monitored from outside and which contradicted the international law and the current soviet legislation were a prologue to the wide-spread armed aggression against Azerbaijan. Starting with the unapproved meetings, strikes and actions of disobedience, the Republic of Armenia passed to the formation of unconstitutional power structures in the region of Nagorny Karabakh in Azerbaijan . Militarized units and a large amount of weapons and ammunition were sent to Azerbaijan and bridgehead for committing armed aggression against Azerbaijan was formed. At the end of 1991- the beginning of 1992 full scale military operations started in the zone of Armenian Azerbaijani conflict. During the military operations in the region of Nagorny Karabakh Armenian military units used sophisticated weapons and in February 1992 they managed to capture the city of Khojali where they brutally killed about 800 civilians including old people, women and children and in may 1992 they occupied the region of Shusha. After that the military operations overstepped the limits of the region and spread inland of Azerbaijan and to the Armenian –Azerbaijani border , including the zone of Nakhchevan . During the period of war 7 more regions of Azerbaijan beside Nagorny Karabakh were occupied. Thus, as a result of aggression against the Republic of Azerbaijan more than 17. 000 sq. km of land have been occupied, that makes 20% of the whole territory of the country , more than 18. 000 people have been killed, more than 50. 00 have been wounded and have become invalids, more than 900 settlements, 100 thousand buildings, more than 1 thousand enterprises, more than 600 schools and educational establishments, 250 medical institutions have been robbed and ruined. For the country with the population of 7,5 mln people the number of displaced persons became disastrous – more than 800. 000 people and almost 200. 000 refugees from Armenia. Humanitarian situation. Following the ethnic purges Azerbaijan faced a grave humanitarian situation. A great number of refugees and displaced persons were placed in tent camps, schools and hostels . In spite of great relief efforts they are menaced by colds and epidemics because of the low level of living conditions. The presence of children and old-aged people exacerbate the problem. Chronology of negotiations. International mediation on the settlement of the conflict started in 1992 in the framework of the so-called OSCE Minsk Group process which is the only forum on the formation of the comprehensive model for the settlement of Armenian- Azerbaijani conflict. The OSCE Minsk Group has been formed to take a political decision concerning this problem. It is a forum for the preparation of Minsk Conference. Following the military operations and the seizure of Azerbaijani cities, the UN Security Council adopted resolutions Nr 822, 853, 854, 884 which provide that Armenian military units should be withdrawn from the territory of Azerbaijan immediately and unconditionally, and the refugees and displaced persons should be able to return home. The main milestones in the negotiations were OSCE Budapest and Lisbon Summits. The OSCE Budapest Summit of 1994 took a decision to form an institute of co-chairmen of Minsk conference and entrust them with the duty â€Å"to conduct negotiations in order to conclude political agreement on the termination of the armed conflict (Great political agreement), the realization of which will eliminate the main consequences of the armed conflict for all sides and will permit to call Minsk conference†. Thus, Budapest Summit determined the two-phase structure of the settlement process: 1. the first stage – elimination of the consequences of the armed conflict; it means total liberation of all occupied territories and return of all displaced persons to their permanent places of living; 2. the second stage – comprehensive peaceful settlement will be achieved following Minsk conference. Budapest Summit also reached a decision on conducting OCSE peacekeeping operation after concluding the political agreement. Following Budapest Summit the co-chairmen (Russia-Finland) organized and conducted 16 rounds of talks and numerous consultations with the participants of the conflict. In that period of time they reconciled about 75% of the text of the draft of the Agreement and its Addenda. However, as far as the matters of principle are concerned – total liberation of all occupied territories including Shusha and Lachin regions, security for all the participants of the conflict and the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan – the agreement hasn’t been reached. In his statement at Lisbon Summit in 1996 the president of the OSCE, set up three principles for the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. They are: territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. legal status of Nagorny Karabakh determined in the agreement and based on the self-determination which grants Nagorny Karabakh the highest degree of self-government within Azerbaijan. security guarantees to Nagorny Karabakh and all its population including mutual obligations to observe the settlement provisions by all parties. These principles were supported by 53 OSCE member states, except Armenia. In November 1996 Armenia unilaterally broke off direct consultations between the Presidential Advisers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. After Lisbon Summit and the establishment of the institution of triple Co-chairmanship (Russia-France-USA) the only one round of talks held in April 1997 was open-ended. In June-September 1997 the Co-chairmanship prepared and brought before the parties a new document which specified a two-stage settlement of the conflict according to the following scheme: the first stage – the liberation of the 6 regions occupied during the conflict outside the former NKAR (except Lachin region), return the civilians to their homes and reconstruction of the main communications in the region; the second stage – the settlement of the dispute around Lachin and Shusha regions and adoption of the main principles for the status of Nagorno-Karabakh region. The complete comprehensive settlement of the conflict including the Agreement on the self-government status of Nagorny Karabakh within Azerbaijan will be reached at Minsk conference. In September 1997 Azerbaijan officially informed the Co-chairmanship of the adoption of the document as a basis for the subsequent negotiations. In October 1997 in Strasbourg the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia made a joint statement about their readiness to start negotiations on the basis of the proposals made by the Co-chairmen. In December 1997 in Copenhagen the session of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs OSCE circulated the Report of the Co-chairmen which stressed the need to continue the efforts aimed at the settlement of the conflict on the basis of Lisbon principles and the proposals of the Co-chairmanship. On May 13-17, 1998 during the visit of the Co-chairmen to the region, Armenia officially declared the recall of the consent of the former President of Armenia to the proposals on the phased settlement and spoke for the â€Å"package† settlement without any preconditions. Armenia strongly objects to the principles of Lisbon Summit and seeks the discussion of the status of Nagorny Karabakh as an independent state. On April 2, 1999, a meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia during the CIS Summit in Moscow was held at which an agreement was reached on undertaking a series of meetings for discussing the problems of the peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. An exchange of views and positions of the parties was continues at the meetings of the presidents on April 24 in Washington, on August 16 and 22 in Geneva, on September 10 in Yalta and on October 11 in the village of Sadarak. During the meetings an agreement was reached on the consultations between MFA and MoD of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the problems of enforcement of the cease-fire rejime, confidence-building measures, procedures of preventing and settlement of the border incidents, as well as the development of the agreed basis for the resumption of the negotiations process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. As an implementation of the agreement meetings and consultations of defence ministers (September 14 and October 11) and of foreign ministers (Seprtember 10, September 30 and October 12) of Azerbaijan and Armenia were held. On September 18, 1999, during the visit of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office K. Vollebaek to Baku it was declared that the meetings and consultations of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia did not substitute the OSCE Minsk process and the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group was called to speed up their activities and make a new proposal acceptable to both parties. On November 18-19, 1999, in the Final Document of the OSCE Istanbul Summit and in the report of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office it was once again underlined that the Minsk Group was the most suitable ormat for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem, the continuation of the dialogue of two presidents which is to complement the Minsk process was welcomed, and the parties were called to resume as soon as possible the negotiations on the conflict settlement. The European Security Charter was adopted at the OSCE Istanbul Summit. It is a legally-binding document that confirms the OSCE principles and norms and the resulting com mitments of the states on the observance of the sovereignty and territorial integrity. On December 13-15, 1999, the first visit of new Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group to the region was held. The Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Group declared that they would begin the work on new proposals that would be based on the elements on which the agreement had been reached at the meetings of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia. In its actiities on the settlement of the conflict the Co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group will pay a considerable attention to the economic development of the region. On this purpose the Co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group expressed their intention to appeal to the world financial institutions, public and non-governmental organizations to send experts to the region in order to carry out the works on estimating the costs of the reconstruction of the region. On January 24, 2000, during the Summit of the CIS member-states in Moscow a separate meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, and on January 25 a quadripartite meeting with the participation of presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and the Acting President of the Russian Federation V. Putin were held. Consultations between presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia were resumde during the meetings and it was declared that the policy of the Four in the region will be based on the principles of the international law and, first of all, on the absolute acknowledgement of the principle of territorial integrity of the sovereign states. On January 28, 2000, at the World Economic Forum in Davos the consultations between presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia on searching the ways of peacefull settlement of the conflict. The foreign ministers of the two countries took part in the meeting. On July 20, 2000, during the Summit of the CIS member-states in Moscow a quadripartite meeting with the participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and the Russian Federation was held. The questions of peaceful settlement of conflicts in South Caucasus, the problem of consolidation of regional security, including the cooperation in the struggle against international terrorism as well as in humanitarian and other fields. The text of joint statement signed as a result of the meeting of three presidents was also circulated. The statement says that the sides expressed their adherence to the continuation of meetings in this format, welcomed the initiative of the world community and international organisations, which assist the acceleration of settlement of conflicts in South Caucasus. Heads of states agreed that such meetings will be held not less than two times a year and as a rule will be held during CIS summits. On July 2-5, 2000, the visit by the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group to the region was held. In their activities on the settlement of the conflict a great attention was paid to the economic development of the region. With this aim the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group appealed to the world financial institutes, social non-governmental organisations to send experts to the region to estimate the possibilities of its economic reconstruction. During the visit, the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group made a statement that they would search the methods of modifying the plan of the Karabakh conflict settlement. On November 30, 2000 in Minsk during the Summit of the heads of the countries of CIS the bilateral meeting of the President of Azerbaijan H. Aliyev and of Armenia R. Kocharyan took place. After the ending of the meeting the President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev declared that he was satisfied on the whole with last negotiations. The President H. Aliyev justified his satisfaction by unofficial feature of the meeting but that the Presidents of these two countries are in the process of the search of the ways of the solution of Nagorniy Karabakh problem. As the President of Armenia R. Kocharyan noticed in his turn, the agreement about the intensification of the meetings was achieved at the meeting. On January 25, 2001 in Paris negotiations of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Robert Kocharyan and Heydar Aliyev in the presence of the President of Republic of France Jacques Chiraq. In the briefing after the negotiations, which took place in Paris in Yelisey Palace in the presence of the President of the Republic of France Jacques Chiraq, the President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan noticed, that the complete solution of the problem was maybe achieved at the attraction to the negotiations of the representatives of Nagorniy Karabakh. The President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev said in his turn that as soon as we come to something concrete at the bilateral negotiations with the leader of Armenia, perhaps the third part may appear . Both Presidents characterized their bilateral negotiations in Paris as rather positive, having informed, that they outlined the plan of the following meeting in the very near future. May 31, 2001 At the CIS Summit in Minsk the trilateral meeting among President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev, President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and President of Russia Vladimir Putin was held. During the meeting the three presidents discussed the problem of the peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. August 1, 2001 At the informal Summit of the CIS countries in Sochi President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan held a bilateral meeting. During the meeting they had a wide discussion on the problem of the peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Currently the Co-Chairs are pursuing their objective to present a compromise settlement plan to the conflict based on the principles of international law. Arms supplies to Armenia. Illegal supplies of Russian arms to Armenia from 1993 till 1994 including 84 tanks T-72, 50 CIV, 32 operational-tactical missiles P-17 capable of a range of 300 km and capable of carrying nuclear warheads as well as other arms amounted to 1 billion US dollars cause Azerbaijan a lot of trouble. These supplies violate the rules of international law and the principles of peaceful settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Such illegal actions contradict UN Security Council resolution 853, the Statement of the President of the Security Council of August 18, 1993 and the decisions of the OSCE High-ranking Officials Committee of February 28 and March 14, 1992 which demand that the military supplies to the states involved in the conflict should be stopped, since they facilitate the escalation of the conflict and the maintenance of the occupation of Azerbaijani territories. Illegal supplies also contradict the provisions of the Agreement on Conventional Forces in Europe. Ceasefire violation. It has been four years since the agreement on ceasefire was reached on May 12, 1994. However, in the last years provocative activities of the Armenian military units being stationed along the contact line have assumed an impudent character pursuing an aim to force Azerbaijan to start a new spiral of military operations. It should be noted that Armenia has violated the agreement on ceasefire 1421 times since May 1994. Release of prisoners of war. The work connected with the release of the prisoners of war and hostages is being continued through the mediation of ICRC. In the period from 1993 till May 2004 as a result of the interchange between the countries, 357 people were released – 102 Armenians and 255 Azerbaijanis. At the same time according to the MNS of the Republic of Azerbaijan there are still more than 800 Azerbaijanis in Armenia and the region of Nagorny Karabakh.