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SIDES PROMISED TO CARRY OUT CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES

Politics

In compliance with a preliminary agreement, on November 2 the President of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, and the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, had a meeting at the Maindorf Castle in Moscow.

The President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev joined Sargsyan and Aliyev after the two-hour face-to-face meeting, and the negotiations continued in a trilateral format.

Following the meeting the Presidents of the three countries signed a declaration in presence of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and mass media representatives.

The declaration calls for a peaceful settlement of the conflict on the basis of international law and decisions and documents adopted within this framework to create favorable conditions for economic development and comprehensive cooperation in the region.

Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed that the peaceful resolution should be accompanied by judicially biding international guarantees and stressed the importance of continuation of mediating efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The Presidents agreed that further discussion is needed for working out the main principles of settlement.

The full text of the declaration signed by the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia is presented below,

Having held substantive discussions in a constructive spirit on the state and prospects for political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through a continuation of direct dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia through the mediation of Russia, the USA and France as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group,

1. Declare that they will facilitate improvement of the situation in the South Caucasus and establish stability and security in the region through political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on the principles of international law and the decisions and documents approved within this framework, thus creating favourable conditions for economic growth and all-round cooperation in the region.

2. Affirm the importance of having the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group continue their mediation efforts, including based on the outcome of the meeting between the parties in Madrid on November 29, 2007, and subsequent discussions on further steps to agree on the basic principles for political settlement.

3. Agree that peace settlement should be accompanied by legally binding guarantees for every aspect and stage of the settlement process.

4. Note that the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to continue work, including through further contacts at the highest level, on reaching a political settlement to the conflict and have instructed the heads of their respective foreign ministries to work together with the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group to activate the negotiation process.

5. Consider it important to encourage the establishment of conditions for carrying out confidence-building measures in the context of work on a peace settlement.