Sputnik News Service
Wednesday 11:05 PM UTC
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Bolton Discuss Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict – Foreign Ministry
BAKU, June 19 (Sputnik) – Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met in Washington with US National Security Adviser John Bolton on Wednesday and discussed the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh disputed region conflict and the situation in the Middle East.
Mammadyarov traveled to Washington where he will meet with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on Thursday to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
"At the meeting, the sides had intensive and lengthy exchanges on various issues, including the current stage of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and the ways of advancing the talks based on the substance," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Mammadyarov and Bolton also discussed US-Azerbaijan economic ties and opportunities for further diversification of gas supplies to Europe, the ministry added.
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations have remained strained since 1991, when Nagorno-Karabakh, a landlocked region in Azerbaijan with a predominantly Armenian population, proclaimed its independence, which led to a military conflict that resulted in Azerbaijan losing control over the region in 1994. Since then, the situation there has been erratic and accompanied by occasional violence.
Developments in the region are monitored by the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States, within the framework of which negotiations on peace have been conducted since 1992.