AZERI, ARMENIA LEADERS COULD MEET IN JUNE – BAKU

Interfax News Agency
May 12 2008
Russia

Another round of talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement between
Azeri President Ilkham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is
likely to take place in June, Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov
told journalists.

This will be the first meeting between Aliyev and Sargsyan.

Speaking about a recent meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian in Strasbourg, Mamedyarov said that this was a meeting at
which the ministers got acquainted with each other, because Nalbandian
has been appointed to the office recently.

This was a meeting at which we got acquainted with each other. We
decide that one needs to continue the talks. We also agreed that a
meeting at the level of presidents should take place, Mamedyarov said.

This agreement was immediately reported to Aliyev, he said. It is
likely that the meeting at the level of presidents will take place in
June. There is a new president in Armenia, and it will become known
at a meeting with new authorities whether they are ready for peace,
Mamedyarov said.

The Azeri minister noted that he once again confirmed Baku’s position
that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved solely within
the framework of Azeri territorial integrity at a meeting with his
Armenian counterpart.