The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Stephane Visconti of France, Andrew Schofer of the United States of America, Igor Khovaev of the Russian Federation) issued the following statement.
“On 7 and 8 October, the Co-Chairs held consultations in Geneva with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, and the Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Gilles Carbonnier. The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, also participated in the meetings. All participants emphasized the importance of full, unimpeded access for international humanitarian organizations to carry out their work.
In light of the recent constructive meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the margins of the UN General Assembly, the Co-Chairs welcomed the release of one Armenian soldier by Azerbaijan, and also discussed possible confidence-building and humanitarian measures, including those related to detainees, missing persons, and the voluntary return of all displaced persons. The Co-Chairs emphasized their intention to continue working with the sides to find areas of agreement.
The Co-Chairs positively noted the public statements of President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan expressing principled readiness to meet with each other under the auspices of the Co-Chairs. The Co-Chairs look forward to discussing the conditions and details of such a meeting with the sides and reaffirmed their readiness to visit the region in the near future to discuss next steps in this process,” the statement said.
