OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to return to Baku after meetings in Yerevan

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs ended their visit to Azerbaijan. They met with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov on Thursday and left Baku for Yerevan.

French co-chair Bernard Fassier told journalists at the Baku International Airport that they will meet with President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. He said the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Yuri Popov (Russian) and Robert Bradtke (USA) are expected to return to Baku after the meetings in Yerevan.

Fassier will fly to Paris to inform President of France Nicolas Sarkozy, Prime Minister François Fillon and newly-appointed Foreign Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie about the process of the settlement of Nagonro Karabakh conflict. Fassier said all of three co-chairs would visit Astana on November 29.

Fassier spoke about the talks they held in Azerbaijan: “We met with the President and Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan yesterday. It is difficult to say anything now because our visit did not end yet. Perhaps something will be clear after the meeting we will hold in Yerevan”. Responding the APA correspondent’s question, Fassier said it is impossible to say what format the presidents will use to meet in Astana.

“It is impossible to plan the presidents’ meeting no sooner than a week because we are ordinary mediators. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, French Prime Minister François Fillon and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are expected to attend the OSCE Summit in Astana”.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chair Yuri Popov (Russia) said during the meetings in Baku they discussed the format of the meeting between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Astana. “This is a confidential issue and therefore we can not publicize the essence of the negotiations”.


/APA/