A European Neighbor

Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency, was instrumental in bringing Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia into the EU's "good neighbor" program, which is designed to promote supportive relationships.

Steinmeier will be examining efforts in the three countries to cement law and justice, democracy and market economy principles with a view to promoting stability and economic development.

The region is important as a source of energy and a transit point for supplies of oil to Europe.

Last year a 1,776-kilometer (1,104-mile) oil pipeline was opened from the Azerbaijan capital of Baku via Tbilisi in Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, providing an important link from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.

European Union officials vowed last year to forge stronger links with suppliers of vital oil and gas in a bid to ease the bloc's current dependence on energy-rich but increasingly assertive Russia.

During his trip, Steinmeier will confer with his counterparts in the three countries, as well as Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Margarjan.

Aliyev said during a visit to Germany this week that his oil-rich nation needed another five years to raise human-rights standards to match levels required under good-neighbor agreements with European states.

The EU is backing westward gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea fields via Ukraine and Turkey. A line, code-named Nabucco, is to be commissioned by 2011. It would pick up gas from Turkish pipelines and shift it to western Europe's grid via Bulgaria and Romania.