Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers to Meet by Year-End

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Igor Popov (Russia), Stéphane Visconti (France), and Andrew Schofer (USA), along with the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, issued a statement following their visit to the region from October 14-17.

The announcement notes that on October 15, the co-chairs met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan, and on October 17, they met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, conducting consultations with the foreign and defense ministers of both countries.

“During the visit, the co-chairs also met with the de facto authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh. In Baku, the co-chairs met with the head of the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh. While in Nagorno-Karabakh, the co-chairs discussed humanitarian issues with a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the statement reads.

The leaders of both countries presented to the co-chairs details of their recent dialogue in Ashgabat during the CIS summit and their vision for how to advance the resolution process.

The co-chairs welcomed the prospects for implementing humanitarian and security measures aimed at preparing societies for peace and reducing tensions.

“The co-chairs once again emphasized the extreme necessity of monitoring missions conducted under the auspices of the permanent representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, in accordance with his mandate and long-standing experience. The co-chairs urged the parties to fully support the actions of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office’s permanent representative and his team and to ensure the immediate removal of any obstacles to monitoring missions. The foreign ministers confirmed their readiness to meet under the auspices of the co-chairs by year-end. The co-chairs will soon travel to Vienna to meet with representatives of the OSCE Permanent Council and the Minsk Group countries,” the statement concluded.