Monday, April 1 2019 09:17

ArmInfo. The meeting of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the Austrian capital Vienna was held in a normal and constructive atmosphere.

            The head of the foreign policy department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, Hikmet Hajiyev, told Trend about this."For the first time after a long time, a meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the leadership of Armenia was organized officially through the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.  This once again confirms that the format of the talks remains unchanged and the negotiation process is being conducted between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

            I would like to remind you , making a statement on March 9 of this year, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs emphasized the unacceptability of changing the format of the negotiations. As you know, from the side of Armenia tsya such claims, Azerbaijan categorically protested against this "- said Hikmat Hajiyev.

            According to the head of the department, today's negotiation process has once again shown that between the parties to the conflict - Azerbaijan and Armenia- negotiations are under way to resolve the conflict. "In general, with regard to the format, I would like to note once again that a one-on-one meeting took place between President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which lasted more than two hours, and negotiations were held. Then the negotiations continued in the presence of foreign ministers affairs of the two countries and co-chairs. In general, the negotiations lasted more than three hours, "added Hajiyev.He stressed that the continuation of negotiations in this format gives impetus to the process related to the resolution of the conflict as a whole.

            "As a result, a joint statement was made by the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia and the co- chairs in the new 3 + 2 format, and this statement highlights the main issues of the negotiation process, as well as a broad exchange of views on substantive issues.  The need to create acceptable and favorable conditions for the advancement of the peace process, such moments as the importance of concrete and result-oriented steps in the negotiation process are noted. During the discussions, the head of state and the prime minister expressed their thoughts on holding another meeting at the level of foreign ministers, on discussing issues of promoting the negotiation process. I would like to note that before this meeting of the leaders of the countries, between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia meetings were held four times.

            The last meeting took place in Paris in early 2019. Issues related to the cease-fire regime were discussed. In general, it should be noted that the strengthening of the cease-fire regime is a parallel direction of the process of conducting substantive negotiations, one should complement the other. In the end, I would like to say once again that the talks held in Vienna were held in a normal and constructive atmosphere.  The most important thing is that the format of the negotiation process remains unchanged, the participation of the Armenian side in this process openly confirmed the invariance of the format, "added Hajiyev.