Baku, January 21, AZERTAC

Azerbaijan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov has met with OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid as part of his working visit to Vienna.

OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid congratulated Azerbaijan on its chairmanship of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC). She noted that the chairmanship priorities are detailed and balanced. Noting the great role of the FSC in resolving security issues in the OSCE area, the Secretary General expressed hope that the current chairmanship of Azerbaijan would help solve the problems. Helga Schmid noted that Azerbaijan's chairmanship priorities are supported by the OSCE. She stressed that the OSCE Secretariat is ready to work closely with the Azerbaijani chairmanship in the implementation of these priorities.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stressed that Azerbaijan attaches importance to cooperation with the OSCE. He noted the importance of project-based cooperation with the organization and hailed in this regard the existing projects with the OSCE in the development of transport connectivity, promotion of green energy and the environment.

The minister also expressed interest in the project-based participation of the OSCE in the construction and reintegration processes in the current post-conflict phase.

FM Jeyhun Bayramov briefed the OSCE Secretary General on the current situation in the region, issues related to the implementation of trilateral statements, and the steps taken by Azerbaijan to normalize relations between the two countries.

The FM said that the delimitation of the borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia is considered an important element in the normalization of relations between the two countries, and Azerbaijan is in favor of starting this process without delay. He noted with regret that Armenia's approach to this issue, including the position demonstrated by Armenia in this regard and the introduction of a number of preconditions for the start of the delimitation process, is absolutely unacceptable. The minister brought to the attention of the Secretary General that Azerbaijan supports the start of the delimitation process without any conditions.

The sides exchanged views on Azerbaijan-OSCE cooperation, as well as other issues of mutual interest.