U,S. hopeful for progress on rift over Nagorno-Karabakh

AP Worldstream; Apr 07, 2006

The State Department said Friday it is hopeful Azerbaijan and Armenia
can make progress toward ending their dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

That issue came up on Friday during a meeting between Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice and Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarove.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that ahead of the
meeting, Rice spoke with the Azeri and Armenian presidents.

The two leaders met recently in France.

“We hope that both sides can in the wake of the talks in France again
provide some renewed impetus to those discussions and come to an
agreement that would resolve this longstanding issue,” McCormack said.

Rice and Mammadyarove also discussed economic reform and
democratization in Azerbaijan.

“The secretary emphasized the importance of respect for human rights
and moving forward on the democratization process in Azerbaijan,”
McCormack said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress