VARDAN OSKANIAN ATTACHES MUCH IMPORTANCE TO MEETINGS BETWEEN ARMENIAN
AND AZERI INTELLIGENTSIA

YEREVAN, JUNE 29, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Foreign Minister, Vardan
Oskanian, at the June 29 press conference, said that he evaluates very
positively the meeting of Armenian and Azeri intelligentsia. He said
that this is a positive step and he hopes it will continue. In his
words, one of the obstacles in the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict is a lack of confidence between the two peoples and,
naturally, under these conditions it is difficult to achieve a
compromise.

It should be mentioned that the day before, a group of Azeri and
Armenian cultural and scientific figures, receiving support by the two
countries’ Presidents through Ambassadors of Armenia and Azerbaijan to
Russia, had a one-day joint journey via the Stepanakert-Yerevan-Baku
route.

V. Oskanian said that the idea of meetings of Armenian and Azeri
intelligentsia was approved by Presidents R. Kocharian and I. Aliyev
during their last meeting in Saint Petersburg.

In connection with the possibility of further meetings within the
framework of the negotiations process, the Minister said that an
individual meeting between the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and the
Armenian and Azeri Foreign Ministers will take place soon.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress