NEXT ROUND OF AZERBAIJANI-ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS’ GARABAGH TALKS TO BE HELD IN MOSCOW THIS JULY
Azerbaijan Business Center
30.06.2009 12:57
Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The French Embassy in Azerbaijan has disseminated
the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European issues
of its country following the Paris meeting (June 26) of Azerbaijani
and Armenian foreign affairs ministers within the process of peaceful
settlement of Nagorno Garabagh conflict.
The statement says that in early July the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs
are to make a trip to Baku, Yerevan and Nagorno Garabagh for
organization of the next round of negotiations between Azerbaijani
and Armenian leaders in Moscow in mid-July.
The statement also says that the Paris meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian FMs, Elmar Mammadyarov and Edvard Nalbandyan respectively,
took place on the MG co-chairs’ initiative.
"For the purpose to study opportunities of continuation of the quite
positive St.Petersburg meeting in early June between president Ilham
Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan both FMs with constructive mood met first
each separately with the mediators and then held a meeting between
each other with co-chairs’ involvement. These negotiations allowed
strengthening achieved progress and define new areas of possible
advances. The co-chairs made new compromise proposals on these areas,"
the statement says.
Yesterday following Baku talk with his Russian counterpart Dmitry
Medvedev the Azerbaijani leader claimed that the St.Petersburg meeting
with participation of the Russian president between him and President
Sargsyan created a favorable atmosphere for further negotiations.
"In the future we also hope for active participation of Russia as
mediator and neighbour of Azerbaijan in settlement of this difficult
question. Today the negotiation process enters, I would say, in
final stage.
Today we emphasized that the round of negotiations in St.Petersburg
was sufficiently effective this month. We managed to take some more
steps ahead. Of course, there are great expectations in Azerbaijan as
well as maybe in Armenia and in the world that the conflict would be
settled as faster as possible, but we are moving forward. It raises
optimism and strengthens the negotiation process.
Despite the fact that since 1994 when a ceasefire decision was made
the conflict has not been settled, nevertheless, today there are
more hopes for conflict settlement than several years ago. That is
why in the spirit of constructive co-operation and in the spirit
of understanding of priorities and interests of all the parties, I
think that we are going to achieve the settlement. We wish that, we
strive to that and do our best to obtain that as faster as possible,"
President Aliyev said.
In his turn, Medvedev stated that Russia was ready to help in the
settlement process further and was ready to ensure its mediator
services to promote the process to approach to the successful end.
He also stated of grounds for a hope that this difficult and quite
long conflict had chances to be settled.
"In the opinion of the Russian Federation the participants of
negotiations (I mean Azerbaijan and Armenia) are ready to solve
gradually the disagreements existing in their positions on separate
issues and move forward. This conflict has all chances to be settled
in quite close historical prospect. And Russia together with other
countries will do its best to obtain settlement of the conflict in
a maximum effective way," President Medvedev said.