1. Basic Documents

The Helsinki Additional Meeting of the CSCE Council on 24 March 1992 requested the CiO to convene as soon as possible a conference on Nagorno-Karabakh under the auspices of the CSCE to provide an ongoing forum for negotiations towards a peaceful settlement of the crisis on the basis of the principles, commitments and provisions of the CSCE. The Conference is to take place in Minsk. Although it has not to this date been possible to hold the conference, the so-called Minsk Group spearheads the OSCE's effort to find a political solution to this conflict.

On 6 December 1994 the Budapest Summit decided to establish a co-chairmanship for the process. Furthermore the Heads of State or Government expressed their political will to deploy multinational peacekeeping forces as an essential part of the overall settlement of the conflict.

Implementing the Budapest decision, the Chairman-in-Office issued on 23 March 1995 the mandate for the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Process (DOC. 525/95).

2. Tasks

On the basis of the above-mentioned documents the main objectives of the Minsk Process could be summarized as follows:

• Providing an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group;
• Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational peacekeeping forces.

3. Deployment

The Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Group (see the section on "Composition" below ) visit the region to conduct talks with the Parties to the Conflict. They also hold meetings with the Chairman-in-Office and the members of the Minsk Group to brief them on the process.

4. Duration

The Minsk Process can be considered to be successfully concluded if the objectives referred to above are fully met.

5. Composition

The Minsk Process is supported by the Minsk Group that is headed by the Co-Chairmanship consisting of France, the Russian Federation and the United States. Furthermore, the permanent members of the Minsk Group include the following participating States: Belarus, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Turkey as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan and on a rotating basis the OSCE Troika.

The Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group are: Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov of the Russian Federation and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza of the United States.

The Minsk Conference on Nagorno-Karabakh would be attended by the same participating States that are members of the Minsk Group. The Conference will be headed by the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Conference.

6. Financial Implications

The OSCE Unified Budget for 2006, adopted on 20 December 2005, PC.DEC/712, established the budget of the Minsk Process at EUR 953,300.