"Armenian President Robert Kocharian agreed to meet with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in Saint Petersburg, and we hope Baku will also give provide his consent," OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-Chair Yuri Merzlyakov stated to journalists in Yerevan, PanArmenianNet reports. The mediator said a working document on basic principles of the settlement has been worked out, which offers certain progress. "If we orient ourselves to the result and suppose that the meeting between both presidents is successful, in other words, the working document is accepted as a basis for working out an agreement, it will not be excluded to only one more meeting at the high level," Merzlyakov underlined. The Russian mediator noted if the basic principles are approved by both presidents, the Co-Chairs will begin to work on the final agreement on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.
"We shall not visit Nagorno Karabakh this time, we shall visit there in a week, when American Co-Chair Matthew Bryza joins us," Yuri Merzlyakov underscored.
The OSCE Minsk Group Chairs from France and Russia have been visiting Armenia from 23 May as part of a tour of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict region. During the visit they held meetings with the President of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian and the Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian.
On 24 May the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will leave for Baku.