The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara cancelled visits to Armenia and Azerbaijan that were due to take place in the coming days. Both President Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan and Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia are scheduled to visit European capitals in the next days and would not have been able to receive the OSCE Chairman. The OSCE Chairman is still expected to travel to Georgia.
Foreign Minister Kozhara instead today met the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Jacques Faure of France, and Ian Kelly of the United States as well as the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk.
An OSCE statement said that "During the meeting issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process were discussed. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs briefed Leonid Kozhara on the current situation around the negotiations on the Basic Principles of the settlement as well as outcomes of recent meetings with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia.
They also exchanged views on the timing of the visit of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office to Azerbaijan and Armenia taking into consideration the importance that Ukraine, as the OSCE Chairmanship, attaches to the fruitful outcomes of the visit, including substantive discussions at the highest level.
The Chairperson-in-Office reconfirmed the readiness of Ukraine to contribute to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office aimed at the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which belongs to the priorities of the Ukrainian OSCE Chairmanship."
source: commonspace.eu with www.osce.org
