Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 23 2007
OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS MAKE JOINT STATEMENT
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs has made a joint statement on the meeting
of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian,
and Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, in Belgrade on April 18 under the
aegis of the three Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Ambassador
Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Ambassador Bernard Fassier (France), and
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza (USA) – and in the
presence of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office,
Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, APA reports.
"The Co-Chairs facilitated a constructive and forward-looking
discussion between the foreign ministers, who continued to embrace
the Basic Principles proposed by the mediators as the foundation for
the negotiations. The foreign ministers and the mediators have driven
the process very close to a point at which Armenian President Robert
Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will have to assess
these principles.
The Co-Chairs plan to visit the region in late May in order to explore
with each president the idea of an additional summit between them
that could mark an endpoint for negotiations on basic principles and
a starting point for a process to develop a comprehensive settlement
agreement, based on those principles, that will pave the way for
enduring peace and stability in the region.
As always, the co-chairs continue to stress the important role that
the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan must play to prepare their
societies for peace. They urge both sides to engage actively in
confidence-building measures that will help build trust between them,"
the statement concludes.