PROGRESS SEEN IN RELATIONS BETWEEN ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN – BRYZA

Interfax News Agency
Aug 4 2008
Russia

Progress has lately been noticeable in bilateral relations between
Armenia and Azerbaijan, said U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Matthew Bryza.

Speaking to journalists following an hour-long meeting between the
Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers in Moscow, Bryza, who is the
U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group mediating in the talks for
settling the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, said there was a certain pause
in relations between Yerevan and Baku during the recent presidential
campaign and elections in Armenia.

The new Armenian government is willing to maintain constructive
dialogue, but it will take some time to perceive Azerbaijan’s position,
Bryza said.

The meeting in Moscow could be considered as groundwork for the
resumption of full-scale dialogue between Baku and Yerevan, he said.

The U.S. diplomat stressed the importance of an earlier meeting between
the Armenian and Azeri presidents in St. Petersburg, which, he said,
helped resume the OSCE Minsk Group’s work.

Bryza said the parties agreed to continue the talks in the spirit of
mutual understanding, but said they still needed to converge their
positions at least on four issues, which he did not specify.

The next OSCE Minsk Group meeting is likely to take place during the
UN General Assembly session in New York in September, Bryza said.

The two presidents are unlikely to meet before the presidential
elections in Azerbaijan slated for October 15, but a meeting between
the two foreign ministers is quite possible, he said.