Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry talks on meeting of Azerbaijani, Armenian FMs in Moscow

By  Trend

A meeting was held between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on April 15, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

The meeting was held on the initiative of the Russian side and with the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The meeting was also attended by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

During the meeting, a detailed exchange of views took place on the main issues of resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In this context, prospects for advancing the negotiation process on the conflict were considered, taking into account the outcome of the meeting between the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia, held on March 29 in Vienna.

Also, the meeting participants exchanged views on measures to reduce tension in the conflict zone, as well as on possible joint activities in the humanitarian sphere.

The ministers agreed to take practical steps to improve relations between the peoples of the two countries, including reciprocal visits by media representatives.

The meeting participants agreed to continue contacts in the near future.

At the end of the meeting, a joint declaration was adopted by the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

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.