OSCE Chairperson discusses Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations with Minsk Group Co-chairs

VILNIUS, 12 July 2011 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis today met the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group: Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, Robert Bradtke of the United States, and Igor Popov of the Russian Federation accompanied by Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference.

Ažubalis voiced support for the efforts by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group to achieve a breakthrough at the negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and called for more civil society involvement in the implementation of confidence-building measures, saying: “It will contribute to the resolution of the conflict, and will strengthen confidence among the societies.”

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs informed Ažubalis about the trilateral meeting of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian Presidents in Kazan on 24 June, which was an attempt to agree on basic principles as the framework for a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They also discussed the prospects of a solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and planned negotiating initiatives for the remaining year.

The OSCE Minsk Group was established in 1992 to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. The negotiation process is headed by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. Ambassador Kasprzyk represents the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in the process, and his office monitors the ceasefire.