Statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

ST PETERSBURG, 5 June 2009 - The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group released the following statement today:

"The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov - Russian Federation; Ambassador Bernard Fassier - France; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza - United States) took part with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrej Kasprzyk in the meeting of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Armenia Serge Sargsyan in Saint Petersburg, Russia on 4 June 2009.

This meeting was the fifth since June 2008 when the Presidents met for the first time.

During their tete-a-tete conversation as well as at the working session held afterwards with the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Presidents discussed the overall conception of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement advanced by the mediators and reviewed some of the elements of the proposed settlement that have not yet been agreed.

The conversation took place in a constructive atmosphere and resulted in positive steps that narrowed the differences between the two countries on a number of the Basic Principles of the settlement.

Because of these positive developments in their discussion, both Presidents asked the mediators to continue their shuttle diplomacy and to open a new and major subject outlined by the Madrid Document which, according to their views, still remains the basis of the negotiation.

In addition, the two Presidents agreed on the mediators' proposal for the Presidents to continue their meetings in the nearest future, if possible in July."