OSCE MINSK GROUP MEMBERS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT NAGORNO-KARABAKH PEACE PROCESS

Interfax
Dec 2 2009
Russia

Top-ranking diplomats from Russia, France, and the U.S., as the
countries mediating in settling the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh,
and the Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers have praised current
trends in negotiations on the matter.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, French Foreign Minister
Bernard Kouchner, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg
representing the OSCE Minsk Group met with Armenian Foreign Minister
Edward Nalbandian and Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in
Athens, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The participants in the meeting "noted the positive dynamic in
the talks, demonstrated through six meetings this year between the
Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan," says a joint statement issued
following the meeting in Athens.

"The increasing frequency of these meetings has significantly
contributed to an enhanced dialogue between the parties and forward
movement toward finalizing the Basic Principles for the Peaceful
Settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, proposed in Madrid on
November 29, 2007," the statement says.

Lavrov, Kouchner, and Steinberg "reiterated the commitment of their
countries, as expressed in the Joint Statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict at the L’Aquila Summit of the Eight on July 10, issued
by their three Presidents, to support the leaders of Armenia and
Azerbaijan as they complete work on the Basic Principles and urged
that the parties complete this work as soon as possible," it says.

The Azeri and Armenian foreign ministers "reported on progress during
the course of this year in achieving common understandings on points
of the Basic Principles," the statement says.

"They stated the willingness of their countries to complete work on
the Basic Principles, as stipulated by the Presidents of the Co-Chair
countries at L’Aquila," it says.