AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER: PROGRESS CAN BE MADE ON NAGORNO KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT BY THE YEAR-END

Azeri Press Agency
July 27 2007

"Opportunities for the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict have
not run out and progress can be made by the year-end," Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said in the interview to local TV
channels, APA reports.

The minister does not agree with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who
consider that elections in Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2008 will impede
the process of negotiations.

Expecting good results from the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs’ meeting
in Moscow on August 2, the minister said that American co-chair
Mathew Bryza will visit Azerbaijan after the meeting and deliver the
co-chairs’ proposals.

"Everyone knows that it is a very delicate issue. I think if there
is political will, progress can be made," he said.

Noting that Matthew Bryza’s visit to Baku mainly aims at
debating bilateral relations, Elmar Mammadyarov underlined that
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict will also be debated during his visit.