OSCE envoys meet French diplomats over Karabakh settlement

PanARMENIAN.Net - The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group met with representatives of the French Foreign Ministry and the Elysee on November 10 and 11 to discuss their ongoing efforts to help the sides find comprehensive solutions to all remaining issues related to or resulting from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with their mandate, the co-chairs said in a statement on Thursday, November 11.

After that the co-chairs (Andrew Schofer of the United States, Igor Khovaev of Russia, and Brice Roquefeuil of France) met separately in Paris with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on November 10. The OSCE mediators hosted both Foreign Ministers at a joint meeting, which was opened by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (PRCiO) Andrzej Kasprzyk also participated in the meetings.

"The co-chairs and Foreign Ministers continued the discussions begun in New York on a number of possible deescalatory measures and next steps in the process, including future meetings in this format and the co-chairs’ proposed visit to the region. The co-chairs and the Ministers also discussed the status of the implementation of the commitments made in the November 9 trilateral statement," the statement reads.

"The co-chairs reiterated the importance of making progress on humanitarian issues — including, inter alia, detainees, demining, missing persons, voluntary return of displaced persons, and protection of historic and cultural sites — and called on the sides to provide unrestricted access to international humanitarian organizations. The co-chairs also stressed the importance of avoiding inflammatory rhetoric and provocative actions."