Russian FM to visit Baku

By  Trend

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay a visit to Baku on November 20, spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend.

Further, Hajiyev noted that Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will pay a working visit to Moscow on November16.

During the visit, Mammadyarov is expected to meet with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, he added.

Earlier, Mammadyarov said that at the last meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents, it was decided to intensify the negotiations on resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“Of course, it is necessary to first intensify them at the level of foreign ministers,” he added.

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.