OSCE MG Co-Chairs to discuss with foreign ministers of Armenia and  Azerbaijan organization of next meeting two countries` presidents  

ArmInfo.  OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and OSCE CiO Personal Representative Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk will discuss with Foreign Ministers of Armenia and  Azerbaijan, Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov, possibilities to organize the next meeting of the two countries' presidents. 

"The Co-Chairs plan to meet with the Ministers including on the  margins of the December 2016 OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in  Hamburg to discuss a possible meeting of the Presidents at the  earliest opportunity.  Such a dialogue at the highest level is  necessary to make progress towards a settlement," the OSCE  press-office reports.

To note, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of  Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met in Vienna on May 16 to advance a peaceful  resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Presidents  reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and the peaceful  settlement of the conflict. To reduce the risk of further violence,  they agreed to finalize in the shortest possible time an OSCE  investigative mechanism. The Presidents also agreed to the expansion  of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE  Chairperson in Office.  Finally, they agreed to continue the exchange  of data on missing persons under the auspices of the International  Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to which the Presidents committed  during the Paris summit of October 2014. The Presidents agreed on a  next round of talks, to be held in June at a place to be mutually  agreed, with an aim to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive  settlement.

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.