France says ready to arrange Armenian-Azeri meeting on Karabakh

PanARMENIAN.Net - France is ready to organize a meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents if an agreement is reached, the French co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group told reporters after talks with Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) president Bako Sahakyan in Stepanakert.

The presidents last met in Saint Petersburg and Vienna in 2016.

Stephane Visconti said peace negotiations were continuing and that "an active dialogue is ongoing" with the parties to the conflict.

"We can't divulge all the details due to confidentiality reasons, but this doesn't mean that nothing's happening," Visconti said.

"To push the negotiations forward, it is necessary to rule out ceasefire violations along the contact line and help the sides reach a compromise."

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs - Igor Popov of Russia, Visconti and Richard Hoagland of the United States - as well as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk met Karabakh president Bako Sahakyan on Tuesday, March 28 to discuss the settlement process.

On Monday, the co-chairs met with Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian and president Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan.