Azerbaijani, Armenian FMs to meet in Geneva for negotiations

By Azernews

By Vafa Ismayilova

As the clashes are continuing betwen Azerbaijan and Armenia around Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the foreign minister of the two countries along with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will meet in Geneva on October 29 to discuss a peaceful solution to the conflict.

“The co-chairs and foreign ministers agreed to meet again in Geneva on October 29 to discuss, reach agreement on, and begin implementation, in accordance with a timeline to be agreed upon, of all steps necessary to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with the basic principles accepted by the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia,” OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Igor Popov of Russia, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the USA) said in a statement released on October 25.

The co-chairs met in Washington on October 24 with Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, and also participated in a joint meeting with the foreign ministers and US Deputy Foreign Minister Stephen Biegun. The Personal Representative of the OSCE’s Chairman in Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, also participated in the meetings, the statement said.

The co-chairs noted that they had urged the sides to take immediate steps to implement all aspects of the October 10 Moscow Joint Statement in accordance with their commitments, noting that they had reaffirmed these commitments with Paris on October 18. 

During their intensive discussions, the co-chairs and foreign ministers discussed implementing an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, possible parameters for monitoring the ceasefire, and initiating discussion of core substantive elements of a comprehensive solution, in accordance with the October 10 Joint Statement, the statement said.

The co-chairs also reminded the sides of the October 1, 2020 joint statement of US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the October 5 joint statement of US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, calling on the sides to cease hostilities immediately and to resume substantive negotiations to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.