The United States hopes that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet very soon and try to revive the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday.
Azerbaijani news agencies quoted Richard Morningstar, the U.S. ambassador in Baku, as saying that the meeting could take place in Paris. He cautioned, though, that no official date for the summit has been set yet.
“The United States believes that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan should reach at the Paris meeting a concrete agreement on resolving the conflict,” Morningstar told reporters, according to the APA news agency.
French President Francois Hollande offered to host the next Armenian-Azerbaijani summit when he visited Baku and Yerevan last month. France as well as the United States and Russia have been trying to broker a Karabakh settlement under the aegis of the OSCE’s Minsk Group co-headed by them.
Diplomats from the three mediating powers visited Yerevan, Stepanakert and Baku later in May. They announced no agreements on fresh face-to-face talks between Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev.
Aliyev and Sarkisian revived hopes for Karabakh peace after they met in Vienna last November for the first time in almost two years. The Minsk Group co-chairs planned to organize their follow-up encounter early this year. However, it was postponed indefinitely following an upsurge in truce violations and fresh recriminations traded by the conflicting parties.
Azerbaijani news agencies quoted Richard Morningstar, the U.S. ambassador in Baku, as saying that the meeting could take place in Paris. He cautioned, though, that no official date for the summit has been set yet.
“The United States believes that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan should reach at the Paris meeting a concrete agreement on resolving the conflict,” Morningstar told reporters, according to the APA news agency.
French President Francois Hollande offered to host the next Armenian-Azerbaijani summit when he visited Baku and Yerevan last month. France as well as the United States and Russia have been trying to broker a Karabakh settlement under the aegis of the OSCE’s Minsk Group co-headed by them.
Diplomats from the three mediating powers visited Yerevan, Stepanakert and Baku later in May. They announced no agreements on fresh face-to-face talks between Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev.
Aliyev and Sarkisian revived hopes for Karabakh peace after they met in Vienna last November for the first time in almost two years. The Minsk Group co-chairs planned to organize their follow-up encounter early this year. However, it was postponed indefinitely following an upsurge in truce violations and fresh recriminations traded by the conflicting parties.