Lragir, Armenia
Jan 17 2008

CO-CHAIRS EXPLAINED THERE IS NO TRAP

Despite the cold weather we got a warm welcome, said the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs in a news conference on January 17 who presented
details of their regional visit. The U.S. co-chair Matthew Bryza
underlined that the purpose of their visit was to learn about the
opinion of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents about the proposal
on the basic issues of the peace agreement they had offered in
Madrid.

Bryza emphasized that they did not expect this visit to be final on
the way to agreement but he noted that there are points in common
between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the basic issues.
The Russian and French co-chairs silenced the points which were not
agreed on, saying that it is the issue under negotiations and as long
as there is no agreement, it cannot be revealed. Meanwhile, Matthew
Bryza said the presidents are on the same track, and are making
efforts to reach agreement on the basic principles possibly soon.
Therefore, the co-chairs think the presidents should take their time
to be aware of each letter of the document on the basic principles.
By the way, the French co-chair Fassier said during their regional
visit they offered some explanations to the presidents concerning the
proposal of Madrid. Fassier says they told the presidents there are
no ambiguous points and traps for the parties in the proposal.