AZERBAIJAN: MEETING ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH "USEFUL"
Interfax News Agency
Aug 1 2008
Russia
MOSCOW. Aug 1 (Interfax) – An Armenian-Azeri meeting on Friday as
part of talks to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was "useful,"
but "a breakthrough is still a long way down the line," the Azeri
foreign minister said.
"The meeting was useful, we decided to hold more negotiations, but
a breakthrough is still a long way down the line," Elmar Mammadyarov
said in a comment on his meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard
Nalbandian, held in Moscow.
Mammadyarov said that, at their meeting, he and Nalbandian looked
at chances to remove "stumbling blocks that are obstacles at the
negotiations."
The Armenian minister said he and his Azeri counterpart had discussed
how to move forward "on the basis of proposals that the co- chairmen
of the Minsk Group of the OSCE put forward in Madrid."
The Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe is a body co-headed by Russia, the United States and France
and appointed to mediate in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Nalbandian also expressed the belief that there is a chance of
him reconvening with Mammadyarov at the next UN General Assembly
session. "There are sensitive issues, they should be handled
cautiously. We are trying to create an adequate environment for
negotiations to continue," the Armenian minister said.