Azerbaijan, Baku, May 8 / Trend , E.Tariverdiyeva/
The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Ambassador Yury Merzlyakov of Russia, Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza of the United States - issued the joint statement on the organization's official Web site on May 7.
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs organized a meeting of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsian, with their Foreign Ministers, on 7 May at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in Prague. This meeting of the two Presidents is the fourth in less than a year, the statement said.
The Co-Chairs are of the opinion that each of these meetings has brought the sides closer to a breakthrough. Today's meeting marks significant progress in that regard, the statement said.
The Presidents welcomed the Co-Chairs' plan to intensify further their shuttle diplomacy to assemble all the elements required for a breakthrough. The Co-Chairs look forward to their next trip to the region and to prepare a further summit, as proposed to the Presidents, in St. Petersburg in early June. The Co-Chairs expect that these coming meetings will allow for the concrete realization of a breakthrough on the Basic Principles by the end of the year.