OSCE Chairperson-in-Office visits Baku, calls for intensified peace talks on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and welcomes establishment of OSCE Project Co-ordinator’s Office

BAKU, 2 June 2014 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, started his official trip to the South Caucasus today with a visit to Baku, where he discussed with President llham Aliyev new aspects of co-operation between the OSCE and Azerbaijan, and called for implementing tension-reducing measures regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The visit also included meetings with Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, the Speaker of Parliament Ogtay Asadov and representatives of political parties and the civil society. Speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Burkhalter encouraged President Aliyev to move step by step towards a peaceful settlement.  He would welcome intensified negotiations and a next presidential meeting as a starting point of a structured process leading towards a peaceful solution, Burkhalter said.

Burkhalter expressed his regrets that 20 years after the 1994 ceasefire, violent incidents at the Line of Contact and the international border remain a frequent phenomenon. He called on the sides to strictly adhere to the ceasefire agreement, to implement an incident investigation mechanism, to encourage people-to-people contact and to agree on further confidence-building measures.

Burkhalter reiterated the full support of the Swiss Chairmanship for the work of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and his Personal Representative, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, in facilitating the negotiating process.

The work of the newly-established Project Co-ordinator’s Office in Baku was another key subject of the discussions. Burkhalter said he hoped for close co-operation between Azerbaijan’s government and the Project Co-ordinator which will take full account of the needs and priorities of the country and cover all three security dimensions: the politico-military, economic and environmental, as well as the human dimension.

The Chairperson-in-Office was accompanied by his Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Ambassador Angelo Gnaedinger, his Personal Representative for the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, Ambassador  Andrzej Kaspryzk and by the Project Co-ordinator in Baku, Ambassador Alexis Chahtahtinsky.

Later today, Burkhalter will depart for Georgia where he will hold high-level talks tomorrow. He will conclude his visit to the region on 4 June in Yerevan.