26 September 2008

On the margins of the UN General Assembly session in New York, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov, Russian Federation; Ambassador Bernard Fassier, France; and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, United States) and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, met on September 24 with the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsian, and organized a meeting on September 26 with the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, and the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov. On September 24, the Co-Chairs also briefed the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Heikki Talvitie, on the latest developments in the negotiations in anticipation of the next OSCE Ministerial Conference in Helsinki.

This round of meetings reflected a particularly constructive spirit and a desire by the parties to invigorate the negotiating process. The sides discussed the possibility of a meeting of the two Presidents in the nearest future. With this in mind, the Co-Chairs reiterated the position of their governments and the OSCE that there can be no military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.