OSCE Minsk Group mediators to arrive in Azerbaijan today

Thu 05 November 2009 09:05 GMT | 14:05 Local Time

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OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs

The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard Fassier (France) and Robert Bradtke (USA), and the personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, will arrive in Baku on Thursday.

Diplomatic sources said that the mediators are starting their visit to the region from Azerbaijan. The co-chairs will meet Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov today.

They will later leave for Yerevan and hold talks on 6 November with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan. The mediators will discuss preparations for a new meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents.

After Aliyev and Sargsyan met in Chisinau on 8 October, the Minsk Group co-chairs said the presidents would hold another meeting soon.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group is the main international body trying to mediate a settlement to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The group is co-chaired by Russia, the USA and France.

APA