Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16
By NIigar Guliyeva - Trend:
The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers agreed to hold a joint meeting on the margins of the December 2017 OSCE Ministerial Council in Vienna, reads a joint statement of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs released Nov.16
"The Co-Chairs will prepare the agenda for this meeting, which will include substantive issues of the political settlement, as well as specific measures to reduce tensions on the Line of Contact," the co-chairs said noting that a special attention will be paid to finalizing the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office.
The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America met separately with the Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian and the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov on Nov.14 and Nov 16 . The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, also participated in the meetings.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.