GENEVA (RFE/RL) — The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan concluded on Thursday, January 30, two days of fresh negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which official Baku said were the “most intensive” in years. (See related editorial on Page 18.)
Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov met in Geneva for two consecutive days in the presence of the U.S., Russian and French diplomats co-heading the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group. The two ministers and the mediators shed little light on the talks in an ensuing joint statement issued there.
The statement said that the “intensive discussions” focused on “possible next steps to prepare the populations for peace; principles and elements forming the basis of a future settlement; and timing and agenda for advancing the settlement process.”
The mediators again stressed the importance of “confidentiality in the settlement process” and “the need for creativity and a spirit of compromise,” it said.
“The ministers agreed to meet again in the near future under co-chair auspices,” added the statement. It gave no further details.
The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministries also issued separate and largely identical statements.
