PARIS (RFE/RL) — The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan acknowledged the need for “concrete measures to prepare the populations for peace” when they held fresh talks in Paris on Wednesday, January 16, according to international mediators.
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov met in the presence of the US, Russian and French mediators co-heading the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group for the fourth time in six months.
The press services of both ministers described the meeting, which lasted for more than four hours, as “useful.” They said the two sides will hold more “results-oriented” negotiations on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“The Ministers discussed a wide range of issues related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and agreed upon the necessity of taking concrete measures to prepare the populations for peace,” read a separate statement released by the Minsk Group co-chairs.
“During the meetings, the Co-Chairs reviewed with the Ministers key principles and parameters for the current phase of the negotiation process,” said the statement.
They also discussed a possible meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, it said, adding that such a summit could “give a strong impulse to the dynamic of negotiations.”
