Joint statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs

PARIS, 24 October 2006 - The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian, and of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammedyarov, met in Paris on 24 October at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the aegis of the three Minsk Group Co-chairmen: Ambassador Yury Merzlyakov (Russia), Ambassador Bernard Fassier (France) and Ambassador Matthew Bryza (United States of America) and in presence of the Personnal Representative of OSCE Chairman in office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

The two Ministers held a constructive meeting in a very frank and open-minded atmosphere which allowed the parties to pursue their talks on the document on "Basic principles for future settlement of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict", proposed by the co-chairs for the Bucharest summit, supported by the G8 Heads of States and Governments in St Petersburg, which remain the core of the negotiations and the best chance to achieve a fair and sustainable Peace.

The Ministers examined in depth the complementary elements to the principles, raised by the mediators on 6 October in Moscow, which open new fields of negotiation but require further clarifications.

They accepted to meet again on 14 November in Brussels to continue the discussion of these clarifications, as proposed by the co-chairs, who intend to visit once again the region by the end of November to assess with the sides the possibility of a third meeting in 2006 between the Presidents of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.