ANS TV, Baku, in Azeri
16 Sep 06

ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER REFUSES TO MEET AZERI COUNTERPART – AZERI TV

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has refused to meet his
Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov.

In an interview with reporters, Oskanyan said the two ministers were
not planning to meet. The Armenian foreign minister said he viewed
individual meetings with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in the future
as more realistic.

Oskanyan said his failure to meet Mammadyarov was due to the UN
General Assembly putting frozen conflicts in GUAM [a regional
alliance of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova] member states
on its agenda at the request of GUAM.

But Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has said Baku has no information
about this.

Mammadyarov and Oskanyan were scheduled to meet on 24-25 September.