Armenia, Azerbaijan presidents meet over conflict settlement

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 17 2005

MOSCOW, May 17 (Itar-Tass) – The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents,
Robert Kocharyan and Ilkham Aliyev, have confirmed serious interest in
reaching settlement of the Nagorno-Karabaklh frozen conflict in talks,
co-chairmen of the Minsk group of the Organizations for Security and
Cooperation in Europe said in a statement after the meeting of the
two countries’ leaders in Warsaw on Tuesday.

“Orders have been given to chiefs of foreign ministries of these
states to continue the interaction with the co-chairmen on the basis
of the positive results that have been achieved during the talks that
took place last year within the framework of the Prague process in
order to approach the working out of mutually acceptable proposals
for settlement of the conflict,” the document said.

The co-chairmen of the Minsk group “are compiling a schedule of
consultations with the sides for the nearest months”.

Kocharyan and Aliyev held two-hour face-to-face talks in Warsaw.

The co-chairmen of the Minsk group, or Russia, the US and France,
simultaneously discussed settlement with foreign ministers of Armenia
and Azerbaijan.

The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents presented “their considerations
and conclusions” to the co-chairmen after their meeting.

The Russian and French foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Michel
Barnier, spoke at the opening of the meeting and expressed on behalf of
the states “support to the activity of the Minsk group and commitment
to a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict”.