A joint statement issued by Armenia and Azerbaijan following talks on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council demonstrates the importance of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe as a platform for dialogue, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said on Thursday.
MILAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th December, 2018) A joint statement issued by Armenia and Azerbaijan following talks on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council demonstrates the importance of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe as a platform for dialogue, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said on Thursday.On Wednesday, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan held talks mediated by the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. The joint statement issued as a result of the talks said that the next meeting between Mammadyarov and Mnatsakanyan on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict would be held in early 2019.
"We are glad that the OSCE Ministerial Council in Milan provided [Armenia and Azerbaijan with] an opportunity to make a joint statement ... to resolve one of Europe's long-standing crises. These are concrete results, which demonstrate the significance of the OSCE as a forum for dialogue," Milanesi was quoted as saying by the Italian Foreign Ministry.
Armenian-dominated Nagorno-Karabakh has been locked in a decades-long conflict with Baku since the region announced its secession from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic in 1988.
In 1991, it proclaimed independence from Azerbaijan and the creation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. This move triggered a military conflict, which led to Baku losing control over the region.
The OSCE Minsk Group, chaired by Russia, the United States and France, monitors the situation in the region and has been facilitating peace negotiations since its creation in 1992.
