ArmInfo. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs plan to meet with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month, US Co-chair of the OSCE MG, Ambassador James Warlick told APA on September 1. APA quotes James Warlick as saying, "The co-chairs remain actively engaged with the sides and plan to meet with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia at the UN General Assembly in New York later this month."
Warlick said they hope to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and others next week in Moscow. "We look forward to discussing the implementation of agreements reached between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia at recent summit meetings in Vienna and St. Petersburg," he noted. The Co-chairs also plan to discuss the next steps in the negotiations process including proposals on the table that could lead to a comprehensive settlement, Warlick added.
Earlier Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France), and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk will hold a meeting in Moscow on September 8. She added that the Co-chairs are also expected to meet with the Russian Foreign Ministry leadership.
To note, the 71st session of the UN General Assembly will be held from 13 to 26 September in New York.
To recall, the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia met in Saint Petersburg on June 20 2016 at the behest of Vladimir Putin. Reaching a settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was the subject of discussion at the meeting, which took place behind closed doors. Following the consultations, the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan adopted a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to normalizing the situation on the line of contact and giving their approval to an increase in the number of OSCE observers working in the conflict zone. The joint statement also expresses the parties' commitment to putting in place the conditions required for steady progress in negotiations on a political settlement to the conflict. The presidents made a point of their regular contacts on Karabakh and agree to continue them in such format as addition to the efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs who were invited to the final stage of the meeting in St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the investigative mechanisms at the present stage of the settlement are irrelevant and the issue can be discussed after "withdrawal of Armenian troops from the NKR". He also stressed that the Office of the OSCE CiO Personal Representative can be expanded by no more than 12-13 people. Following the meetings in Vienna and St. Petersburg, France expressed willingness to host the next meeting on Karabakh in August 2016, but no meeting was organized.