NO HEADWAY ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT AT BUCHAREST MEETING

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
June 6, 2006 Tuesday 11:52 AM MSK

A recent meeting of Armenian President Robert Kocharian and his
Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Bucharest did not make
any progress toward a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian told journalists.

“In spite of a good atmosphere, no progress was made,” Oskanian, who
accompanied the Armenian president during his visit to Bucharest, said.

“At their recent meeting in Bucharest, the presidents could not resolve
the issue, the same issue they failed to resolve during their meeting
in Rambouillet, France, in February, although the Russian, French
and U.S. co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group presented proposals
discussed in Rambouillet, but in a slightly different format,” he said.

“The fact that the two countries’ presidents ordered their foreign
ministers to continue taking steps to bridge the gap between their
positions on the issue is already an achievement,” the minister said.

During their February meeting in France, Kocharian and Aliyev failed
to reach an agreement on the main principles of the settlement.