Azerbaijan, Baku/ Trend / Vardan Oskanian, Armenia's Acting Foreign Minister, has stated during the joint press conference being held with his Latvian counterpart, Artis Pabriks in Yerevan today that Armenia and Azerbaijan are close to resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"While comparing the document, which is presently on the negotiations table together with the previous documents, it is evident that the document is more realistic forboth disputing parties. The principles that are included in the document have been more balanced. In addition, the overwhelming majority of approaches to the issue have been agreed by the both parties. We are really close to settling this conflict," he stated, Trend reports referring to ARKA.
At the same time, the Head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry noted that there were some approaches and principles left disagreed by the disputing parties, but these are to be agreed during the meeting between the Presidents of the two states. "Only after that, it will become clear whether the peaceful negotiations will progress or not," he added.
Commenting on his last meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, Mr. Oskanian refused to comment by stating that "the time has not yet come to do it". However, during the last meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart he did say that the next date for negotiations between the two Heads of the Foreign Offices of the two countries had not been determined.
"No agreement was reached on the next forthcoming meeting. However, the OSCE Minsk Co-Chairmen will certainly visit the region to become acquainted with the situation there and prepare a ground for the meeting between the two Presidents prior to the Armenian parliamentary elections to be held on 12 May" stated Mr. Oskanian.
Notably, the last meeting was between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers held in Belgrade on 18 April where both Ministries participated in the sixteenth meeting of Foreign Ministries of BSEC (Black Sea Economic Cooperation). All the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen, namely Matthew Bryza (U.S.A.), Yuriy Merzlyakov ( Russia), and Bernard Fassier ( France), as well as Andjey Kaspshik, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office participated in the meeting between the Foreign Ministries of the disputing parties.
During the discussions held, the Minsk Group Co-Chairmen put forward some proposals to the disputing parties emphasizing a number of issues, which have been not been agreed within the principles being presently viewed by the parties.