Interfax News Agency, Russia
May 7 2008

Armenian, Azeri foreign ministers discuss Karabakh settlement in Strasbourg

YEREVAN May 7

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Azeri Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov discussed the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict at a meeting in Strasbourg, the Armenian Foreign Ministry
told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.

Nalbandian told journalists following the talks that the meeting was
designed to help the two foreign ministers know each other better.

"We exchanged opinions about the Karabakh process, presented our
approaches, and agreed to continue the negotiations," Nalbandian said.

The ministers will brief their presidents on the results of the talks,
after which the presidents are supposed to make decisions on further
steps.

The meeting between Nalbandian and Mammadyarov took place during the
118th session of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers in
Strasbourg on May 6. The bilateral meeting was followed by discussions
in an expanded format, which were attended by the co-chairmen of the
OSCE Minsk Group mediating in the settlement of the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh, i.e. Bernard Fassier (France), Matthew Bryza (the
U.S.), and Yury Merzlyakov (Russia), plus Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.