OSCE Says Ready To Organize Armenia-Azerbaijan Ministerial Meeting In Dec In Bratislava

OSCE Says Ready to Organize Armenia-Azerbaijan Ministerial Meeting in Dec in Bratislava

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement is ready to organize a meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in December in Bratislava, Russian co-chair of the group, Igor Popov, said on Wednesday

YEREVAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2019) The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement is ready to organize a meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in December in Bratislava, Russian co-chair of the group, Igor Popov, said on Wednesday.

"As for the negotiation process, if the foreign ministers of the two countries agree, we assume that the meeting can be held in December as part of the forum [OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting] in Bratislava. With the consent of the parties we are ready to organize this meeting," Popov told reporters, as quoted by Artsakh Press.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his Armenian counterpart, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, held their last meeting in late September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The OSCE Minsk group, co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States, was set up in 1992 to help settle the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In 1991, the region, with its predominantly Armenian population, announced its independence from Azerbaijan. A military conflict ensued but eventually ended in a ceasefire in 1994. However, tensions between the two countries over the issue have remained ever since.