POLITICS
‘I am satisfied with the negotiations with MG co-chairs’, Elmar Mammadyarov
Moscow, November 17, AZERTAC
‘I was very satisfied with the content of the negotiations, which were quite constructive and substantive. We discussed specific issues on resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’, following the meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Moscow’, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told the AZERTAC correspondent.
The Minister said: ”We decided to continue our meetings within the framework of the OSCE Ministerial Meeting in Vienna in early December. In principle, there are ideas. The co-chairs have undertaken to work on these ideas to advance further. They always ask me what plan we are working on? I answer that since the Prague process of 2004, all the proposed ideas have been on the table. Of course, some of them are six-item proposals, as noted by the co-chairs. We worked on details today. The meeting with the co-chairs showed that we, both Azerbaijan and the co-chairs, are determined to advance the negotiation process, which has been dormant for more than half a year”.
The Minister noted that “we have come to a conclusion with the co-chairs that we should discuss the possibility of a meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the format of “2+3” in Vienna. After the Vienna meeting, we will offer the presidents to meet. After the issues discussed today with the co-chairs are also discussed by the Armenian side, we will ask the presidents about the probability of a meeting.
Commenting on the statement that the U.S. may withdraw from the Minsk Group co-chairmanship, as a result of which the group’s format can change, the Azerbaijani foreign minister said: “I don’t believe that the U.S. is intending to withdraw from the Minsk Group and the group’s format will change. The American co-chair takes his duties very seriously. There were such rumors for a while. There were discussions about reductions in the U.S. Department of State. However, the U.S. co-chair was not alone but with his assistant at today’s meeting. This shows that the U.S. is seriously dealing with this work.
Farida Abdullayeva,
Special correspondent