Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
June 6 2008

Azerbaijan and Armenian Foreign Ministers Assess First Meeting of
Ilham Aliyev and Serj Sarkisyan Positive and Constructive 06.06.08
15:09

The Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandyan stated on 6 June in
St Petersburg that the meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
Presidents was `positive and constructive’, Mediamaks reported.

`The Presidents got familiar with each other’s approaches and
instructed the respective foreign ministers to continue talks with the
help of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen,’ the foreign minister of
Armenia said.

The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov stated that the
Presidents had expressed their wish that the mediators should continue
their work. `The co- chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group will probably
visit the region by the end of June,’ the Azerbaijani foreign minister
said.

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia noted that the talks
will be continued within the Prague process and proposals made by the
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group in Madrid at the end of 2007,
taking into consideration the comments of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

`We will put all our efforts to make our positions closer and also to
find a common ground,’ Mammadyarov said.

The Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan stated, `We are not
beginning talks from the very start, but we will try to make the
positions of parties closer’.

The US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza said that the
familiarization meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents was
a success and it means that `the important work within the OSCE Minks
Group can be continued’.

`Our task is to improve the proposals on the table of talks taking
into consideration the situation of both parties,’ Mattew Bryza said.