No Presidents' meeting in New York, but foreign ministers may meet next month.

There will be no meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month. However the co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk process are still hoping that they could bring together the foreign ministers of the two countries for talks to re-start discussions on a peaceful solution for the Karabakh conflict. 

The US co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Process, Ambassador James Warlick, told the Azerbaijani News Agency APA, "We look forward to bringing the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan together at the UN General Assembly in September and exchange views on the way forward on a negotiated settlement.  We need a renewed commitment at the highest level to finding a peaceful resolution of the conflict”.

The last time the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan met to discuss the Karabakh conflict was in Vienna in November 2013. Efforts by the co-Chair to organise another meeting have failed to materialise, although there have been meetings with the two foreign ministers. The absence of a meeting between the two presidents is however indicative of lack of progress in the negotiations. Earlier this year there was speculation that the two Presidents may meet in New York, but this possibility is now being discounted.

source: commonspace.eu

photo: United Nations Headquarters, New York (archive picture)

 

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
United States and Iran on the verge of agreement to end hostilities

United States and Iran on the verge of agreement to end hostilities

The United States and Iran signaled on Friday that an agreement to end their war was close, with a senior U.S. administration official saying both sides had agreed on a text and that Washington ​expects to sign an initial deal in the coming days. There are reports that the two sides will meet in Geneva in the coming 3-4 days. iAccording to the BBC, the agreement  includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Foreign Minister has said. Seyed Abbas Araghchi told state TV the deal also includes the lifting of a US blockade of Iran, but that talks on Iran's nuclear programme would begin later. US officials have confirmed some of the details of the agreement, saying economic benefits for Iran would depend on Tehran meeting its obligations. The war began with US and Israeli strikes across Iran on 28 February, prompting Iran to attack Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf - as well as effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for the world's oil and liquefied gas. Trump says there is "no such thing as dealing in good faith" when it comes to negotiating with the Iranians Despite having agreed a ceasefire in April, the US and Iran have exchanged intermittent fire, including two rounds of tit-for-tat strikes this week. US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had cancelled "scheduled attacks" against Iran, because negotiators had "just made a great settlement" - a deal that was likely be to signed imminently. On Friday, Iranian media published some details from the alleged 14-point deal which Trump said had "nothing to do with the terms that were agreed to" and "bears no relation to the truth".

Popular

Editor's choice
Interview
Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov

Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov

Today, commonspace.eu starts a new regular weekly series. THURSDAY INTERVIEW, conducted by Lauri Nikulainen, will host  persons who are thinkers, opinion shapers, and implementors in their countries and spheres. We start the series with an interview with Murad Muradov, a leading person in Azerbaijan's think tank community. He is also the first co-chair of the Action Committee for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue. Last September he made history by being the first Azerbaijani civil society activist to visit Armenia after the 44 day war, and the start of the peace process. Speaking about this visit Murad Muradov said: "My experience was largely positive. My negative expectations luckily didn’t play out. The discussions were respectful, the panel format bringing together experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey was particularly valuable during the NATO Rose-Roth Seminar in Yerevan, and media coverage, while varied in tone, remained largely constructive. Some media outlets though attempted to represent me as more of a government mouthpiece than an independent expert, which was totally misleading.  Overall, I see these initiatives as important steps in rebuilding trust and normalising professional engagement. The fact that soon a larger Azerbaijani civil society visits to Armenia followed, reinforces the sense that this process is moving in the right direction." (click the image to read the interview in full)