BAKU: President Agrees to Meet With Armenian President in St. Pete

Azerbaijan.Az
May 30 2009

Azerbaijani President Agrees to Meet With Armenian President in
St. Petersburg on June 4

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed to meet with Armenian
President in St. Petersburg on June 4.

After the meetings with Azerbaijani officials, the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs informed about it at the Heydar Aliyev Airport before
leaving for Yerevan. French co-chair Bernard Fassier noted that the
meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents would be held in
St. Petersburg on June 4.

The French diplomat stated that they would meet Armenian president
Serzh Sargsyan and foreign minister Edvard Nalbandian and hoped for
positive response from them for the meeting. Taking stance on Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s statements about no progress has
been achieved in solution to Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Bernard
Fassier disagreed with these thoughts: `I don’t agree with the
statement that the co-chairs were not able to achieve a
progress. There are concrete proposals prepared by the mediators on
the table. Reaching to agreement or signing any document depends on
the presidents’ political will and courage’.

American co-chair Matthew Bryza said the meetings with Azerbaijani
officials were constructive and productive. The diplomat said they
expected the same from the Armenian authorities. He stated the
Azerbaijani President agreed to meet with Armenian president and hoped
to get a positive answer from the opposite side. The American diplomat
also stated that it was too early speak about signing of any documents
in St. Petersburg meeting. `However all may happen, the main issue is
the presidents’ positions’.

Matthew Bryza emphasized that he would revisit Baku on June 1 in order
to attend the Caspian Oil-Gas Exhibition.

But the Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov said nothing to the
journalists.