“2005 has become year of development of Prague talks and Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations on the right way,” Trend reports quoting US Ambassador Steven Mann, the co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, as saying to Radio Liberty.
The diplomat said that as no elections was scheduled for 2006 Azerbaijan and Armenia could attach more and more attention to the conflict
According to Mann, the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia came to an agreement on the next meeting. The meeting was scheduled for late January, while the date and place of talks are still to be defined, he stressed.
“The co-chairs expect too much from the meeting, in particular, adoption of serious resolution. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the co-chairs have done too much to bring the position closer. We reached the stage when there is a need for private meetings of the presidents in Kazan and Warsaw,” he added. According to the US Ambassador, over the past two years of talks under the Prague process the sides achieved enough progress to remove the difference in the positions. However, there are still considerable disagreements, the US diplomat said noting his hope that 2006 will grant real opportunities decreasing the disagreement on important issues.
Mann announced that the presidents take frank interests for the achievement of peace agreement. “However, Azerbaijan and Armenia are still decisive on their positions,” he said concerning real talks.
The diplomat did not accept the opinions on non-readiness of the societies of the two countries for compromises. “This year not only the governments, but also people of the two countries ought to take resolution with respect to improve the living conditions suffered as a result of the conflict,” he thinks.