Azeri Foreign Minister: "Russia could play key role in building confidence between Yerevan and Baku"

"In principle a very constructive and productive exchange of views was held over the basic principles of settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. During the talks an agreement is reached that each party takes a pause up to October 24 to analyze the ideas discussed," he said.

Answering a question whether the conflict may be settled before the end of 2006, as G8 countries suppose, the Azeri FM noted, "one should not get fixed on some terms as it is a very serious issue."

"The main subject to talks is the issue on basic settlement principles and proposals of the co-chairs are based on already worked out principles, discussed within the Prague process for many years. Our task is to find the fragile balance, on the basis of which we can move further. We have agreed upon the basic principles of conflict settlement however there are two principles we are working on. Exactly these were discussed," Mammadyarov noted.

"We believe that Russia is our political and economic partner and our neighbor. Undoubtedly, it should play a key role in the settlement context. We see it wants Armenia and Azerbaijan to find a common ground to turn to the first phase of the settlement. A complex conflict cannot be solved at once, it should be solved step by step. The final element, which will be brought in the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, is the element of confidence, which is of high importance and in that respect Russia could play a key role," the Azeri FM underscored, reports Day.Az.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/