Joint statement by OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

VIENNA, 30 November 2006 - The Russian and the French Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, Ambassadors Yuri Merzlyakov and Bernard Fassier, acting also on behalf of the U.S. Co-Chair Matthew Bryza, visited Yerevan and Baku on 20 and 21 November.

They met with Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijan President Ilham Alyev, as well as with Foreign Ministers Vartan Oskanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov.

As a result of these meetings, which took place in an open minded and constructive spirit, both Presidents accepted the Co-Chairs' proposal to meet in Minsk next week on the margins of the next CIS Heads of States Council meeting.

The discussions in both capitals confirmed that the three rounds of consultations between the Foreign Ministers - which took place in Moscow, Paris, and Brussels in October-November - were useful in moving the negotiations forward.

Building on their recent meetings with the Presidents and Foreign Ministers, the Co-Chairs hope that the upcoming Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in Minsk will allow both sides to take a new step toward an agreement on basic principles for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as endorsed by the G8 leaders in St. Petersburg last July and which remain on the table as the best chance to achieve a fair and sustainable peace.