Co-Chairs of Minsk Group release statement

VIENNA, 21 July 2009 - The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group released the following statement today:

"Armenian President Serzh Sargsian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev met in Moscow on July 17-18 to discuss issues related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

During the meeting on July 17, the sixth since June 2008, the Presidents held a tete-a-tete discussion and extensive talks with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs: Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Ambassador Bernard Fassier (France), and Deputy Assistant State Secretary of State Matthew Bryza (United States), in the presence of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chair-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

On July 18, the Presidents were received by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev.

The discussions were held in a frank and constructive atmosphere that allowed the sides to discuss at length and in detail proposed formulations to overcome their remaining differences on the few elements of the Basic Principles that have yet to be conceptually agreed.

The Minsk Group Co-Chairs informed the two Presidents they will hold a working session at the end of July in Krakow, Poland, to prepare an updated version of the Madrid Document in accordance with the "L'Aquila Declaration" of Presidents Barack Obama, Dmitri Medvedev and Nicholas Sarkozy.

The Co-Chairs intend to visit the region in September to assess the possibilities for a subsequent meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents either at the end of September or the beginning of October."