Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Jan 17 2005

Positions of Baku, Yerevan getting closer – Russian Foreign Ministry

Russian Foreign Ministry says that certain progress is observed in
the positions of Baku and Yerevan getting closer and their approaches
to the Upper Garabagh conflict, the Ministry said in a statement.
On January 10-11 Prague hosted another meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian foreign ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Vardan Oskanian,
attended by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Russia, United States and
France).
`Moscow welcomes the fact that the meetings of the two sides on
different levels, including those between Presidents and in the
`Prague format’, have become regular’, the Russian Ministry said.
Representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia are considering literally
all aspects of the situation with the Garabagh conflict in their
internationally mediated talks, the same source said.
`These include such thorny issues as withdrawal of armed forces,
demilitarization of the territory, international guarantees and the
status of Upper Garabagh.’*