Joint statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

BELGRADE, 19 April 2007 - The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian, and Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, met in Belgrade on April 18 under the aegis of the three Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Ambassador Bernard Fassier (France), and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza (USA) - and in the presence of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.

The Co-Chairs facilitated a constructive and forward-looking discussion between the foreign ministers, who continued to embrace the Basic Principles proposed by the mediators as the foundation for the negotiations. The foreign ministers and the mediators have driven the process very close to a point at which Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will have to assess these principles.

The Co-Chairs plan to visit the region in late May in order to explore with each president the idea of an additional summit between them that could mark an endpoint for negotiations on basic principles and a starting point for a process to develop a comprehensive settlement agreement, based on those principles, that will pave the way for enduring peace and stability in the region.

As always, the co-chairs continue to stress the important role that the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan must play to prepare their societies for peace. They urge both sides to engage actively in confidence-building measures that will help build trust between them.