U.S. OPPOSED TO DISSOLUTION OF MINSK GROUP

ARMENPRESS
March 28, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS: A U.S. diplomat in Armenia said today
his government is opposed to dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group
because it regards the Group as the only road to achieving a peace
deal on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The OSCE Minsk Group, chaired by USA, Russia and France has been
trying for over a decade to help Armenia and Azerbaijan hammer out
a compromise peace deal over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Joseph Pennington, U.S. charge d’affaires in Armenia, refused to
comment on media reports that Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev
declined a proposal to meet with Armenian president-elect, prime
minister Serzh Sarkisian on the fringes of a NATO summit scheduled
for early in April in Romania’s capital Bucharest.

Pennington said deputy assistant secretary of state Mathew Bryza,
who is also U.S. cochairman in the Minsk Group, is due in Armenia
soon and will flesh out . He reiterated that the Minsk Group is the
only format that can lead to a peace agreement.

Azerbaijan asked the OSCE secretariat to start the process of the
Minsk Group.