EU: despite OSCE MG statements, document on Karabakh settlement still under discussion

PanARMENIAN.Net - Although co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group (United States, France and the Russian Federation) have stated that over the last years the two sides had significantly narrowed their differences and that only a few issues remained to be settled, a document elaborated by the Minsk Group, containing the basic principles for a conflict settlement, which was presented to Armenia and Azerbaijan at the OSCE Ministerial Meeting in Madrid in October 2007, is still under discussion, says a report issued Thursday by the European Commission directorate for external relations.



"An informal meeting of President Kocharian and President Aliyev took place during the CIS Summit in St Petersburg in June 2007. A significant and well noted people-to-people contact in form of the visit of a delegation of Armenian and Azerbaijani intellectuals to Stepanakert, Yerevan, and Baku in June 2007 also took place," the reports says.



Objectives in cooperation on foreign and security policy, conflict prevention and crisis management include strengthening political dialogue and cooperation on foreign and security matters; developing cooperation in addressing common security threats, including non-proliferation of WMD and illegal arms exports; strengthening efforts and cooperation in the fight against terrorism; participation in regional cooperation initiatives; contributing to a peaceful solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.



"Since June 2007 Armenia was invited to align itself with CFSP declarations on a case-by-case basis. It has done so on most opportunities," the report says.