The co-chairs aim to resume “serious substantive negotiations without preconditions.”
The OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Minsk Group co-chairs, Andrew Schofer, Igor Popov and Stéphane Visconti, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, held intensive consultations on 14 September in Paris.
According to the OSCE statement, the co-chairs discussed the situation in the region, keeping a particular focus on new developments following the escalation that took place on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border in mid-July. The mediators carefully discussed and assessed the parties’ private and public messages, the statement noted. Kasprzyk presented the security situation on the ground, and the co-chairs welcomed his clear preparations towards resuming monitoring activities.
The mediators held separate telephone conversations with the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, and invited them to meet with them in person in the coming weeks for further clarification of positions, “with the aim of resuming serious substantive negotiations without preconditions.”
“The co-chairs remain actively and fully engaged in facilitating negotiations for a peaceful and comprehensive settlement, in accordance with their OSCE mandate,” the statement also noted.
