Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 17
Trend:
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres welcomed the meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, held in Geneva on Monday, said by the official representative of the UN Secretary General Stefan Dujarrik.
He noted that the head of the world organization "welcomes the summit in Geneva".
"He is encouraged that the presidents agreed to take measures to intensify the negotiation process and take additional steps to reduce tensions on the contact line," Dujarrik said in a statement.
The Secretary-General reiterates the United Nations’ support for the ongoing mediation efforts of the Co-Chairs and encourages the sides to build on the positive momentum created by this summit to reach a peaceful negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Guterres stressed that the UN supports the mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and called upon the sides, based on the positive momentum of the summit summit, to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the talks."
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.