Kazakh president notes progress in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

He made the statement this week in an interview with the Euronews television channel, the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper reported.

"A group of international experts paid a visit to Nagorno Karabakh in October, for the first time in the past five years under the auspices of the OSCE to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground," he said.

The assessment mission examined the situation in the occupied territories upon Baku's initiative. During the last visit, the co-chairs visited these areas and studied the situation.

"We welcome the joint statement by Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sargsyan, in which Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to exchange prisoners and return the bodies with the assistance of the OSCE Minsk Group and the International Committee of the Red Cross," Nazarbayev added.

Astrakhan hosted a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia - Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sargsyan - on Oct. 27. The parties signed a declaration that envisaged the return of POWs and promoted the mediation of humanitarian issues by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the OSCE Minsk Group.


/Trend/