BAKU: Azerbaijan Hails New U.S. OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairman

AZERBAIJAN HAILS NEW U.S. OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRMAN

Baku Today, Azerbaijan
June 19 2006

Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has welcomed the appointment
of Matthew Bryza as the United States’ co-chairman of the OSCE
Minsk Group.

"Bryza is familiar with the situation in this region and the Karabakh
conflict. He does not need to study the problem," Mammadyarov told
journalists on Sunday.

The appointment of Bryza, who will replace Stephen Mann at this post,
indicates that "the U.S. government still hopes to make progress in
these talks," the minister said.

The Minsk Group co-chairmen are to unveil a report on the Karabakh
settlement process at the OSCE Permanent Council’s session in Vienna
on June 22, he said. The session will also officially confirm Bryza’s
appointment.

"The co-chairmen have already come up with an initiative to hold a
new meeting of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia. I
have agreed to take part in this meeting, and expressed my readiness
to hold as many meetings as necessary," Mammadyarov said.

The Azeri authorities lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh,
apredominantly ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, as a result of
a conflict in the 1990s.