US mediator intends to take responsible position on Karabakh
By Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS
April 19, 2004

New U.S. co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group for Nagorno-Karabakh
Steven Mann said he intends to take a responsible position on the
solution of the Karabakh problem.

After the talks with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan on Monday
Mann said he would meet Ashot Gulyan, the non-recognised foreign
minister of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The U.S. official declined to comment on the details of the
consultations between the Minsk Group mediators and the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers that took place in Prague on Friday.

Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, who is also National
Security Council secretary, confirmed that Yerevan would convince
all sides to solve the Karabakh problem by peaceful means.

Mann, who used to be the U.S. special representative for energy
policy on the Caspian Sea, will leave for Georgia on Tuesday and then
for Baku.