Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE)

Dec 1 2006

Joint statement by OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

VIENNA, 30 November 2006 – The Russian and the French Co-Chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement,
Ambassadors Yuri Merzlyakov and B Bernard Fassier, acting also on
behalf of the U.S. Co-Chair Matthew Bryza, visited Yerevan and Baku
on 20 and 21 November.

They met with Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijan
President Ilham Alyev, as well as with Foreign Ministers Vartan
Oskanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov.

As a result of these meetings, which took place in an open minded and
constructive spirit, both Presidents accepted the Co-Chairs’ proposal
to meet in Minsk next week on the margins of the next CIS Heads of
States Council meeting.

The discussions in both capitals confirmed that the three rounds of
consultations between the Foreign Ministers – which took place in
Moscow, Paris, and Brussels in October-November – were useful in
moving the negotiations forward.

Building on their recent meetings with the Presidents and Foreign
Ministers, the Co-Chairs hope that the upcoming Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit in Minsk will allow both sides to take a new step toward an
agreement on basic principles for the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as endorsed by the G8 leaders in St.
Petersburg last July and which remain on the table as the best chance
to achieve a fair and sustainable peace.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress