Armenian, Azerbaijani presidents will meet next week: RPA deputy chief

PanARMENIAN.Net - President Serzh Sargsyan will meet his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Geneva next week, deputy chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia Armen Ashotyan told reporters on Thursday, October 12.

According to him, the summit is initiated by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

"Everyone is well aware of Armenia's position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict which the Armenian president recently repeated from the UN podium," Ashotyan said.

"Despite some statements by high-ranking Azerbaijani officials, the president will attend the meeting."

Asked why the presidents did not meet in Sochi (when both leaders were attending a CIS summit there), the RPA official said no such meeting was planned in advance.

Also, he said that a reliable and safe environment is necessary to push negotiations forward.

Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov met in New York in mid-September to discuss the conflict. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, in turn, visited the region recently to prepare the ground for the presidential summit.