Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev regards the Nagorno Karabakh conflict as his country's major problem. He made a statement while addressing to the Foreign Relations Council, which commenced his first official visit to the United States. The President voiced his hope that the current talks on Nagorno Karabakh "will create necessary conditions for just and durable peace, based on the principles of the international law." "We hope that the United States as a superpower and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing states will contribute to the resolution of the conflict," Aliyev underscored. Baku is sure that the settlement can be peaceable and "only the international rule of law can be a base for talks," he emphasized. "The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized by UN and all world countries, except Armenia," he stated.

US Ambassador Steven Mann, an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, who was present at the meeting, stated he was gong to visit Moscow next week for next round of consultations which his colleagues. He is optimistic and he believes "an efficient base for compromise is discovered." The US Ambassador particularly considered important the principle of refusal from attempts of complete resolution of the exiting problems available once and for all. He explained that the current approach was just the opposite: movement forward step by step and leaving some difficult issues for future, Itar-Tass reports.