Matthew Bryza, American co-president of the OSCE Minsk Group, announced Wednesday in Baku that he shares the opinion of the existing president of the OSCE and Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Miguel Angel Moratinos, who had announced in Baku on Tuesday that “the sides have never been this close to the conflict settlement”.
“As to how close the sides are to the settlement, we will know precisely after the meeting in St. Petersburg. It is a very important meeting, but I think that the sides will still have a lot to do. Azerbaijan and Armenia are very close to the settlement, but it is a very complicated process,” said Bryza. “The sides must clear up some details and if they reach an agreement to sign the main document, it will be possible to hope for acquiring an agreed-on solution in the near future.”
On Wednesday, the co-presidents met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammedyarov in Baku. Matthew Bryza had separate meetings with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammedyarov, Minister of Economic Development Heydar Babayev, and Minister of Energy and Industry, Natik Aliev. The co-presidents arrived Thursday in Yerevan and met with Armenian authorities, as well as Arkadi Ghukasyan, president of Nagorno-Karabakh. The visit of the co-presidents ended Thursday evening, with the press conference to be held at the U.S. Embassy.