Co-chairs of Minsk OSCE Group visit Azerbaijan

The visit to Azerbaijan on December 11 of Yuri Merzliakov (Russia), Robert Bradtke (USA) and Bernard Fassier (France) - co-chairs of the Minsk OSCE Group - was held confidential.

The co-chairs held a meeting only with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev, where journalists were not admitted. This time, there was no traditional meeting with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan and a briefing thereafter. However, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, as judging from the photo spread by the official press, was present at the co-chairs' meeting with the President.

The press service of the latter issued just a brief notice that "the meeting was on exchanging opinions on the current situation and prospects in negotiations on settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."

The co-chairs report that next January they will pay a visit to Armenia. "These visits will open way to the forthcoming meetings of Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2010 with the aim of coordinating the basic principles of Karabakh settlement," runs the statement of the co-chairs of the MG of the OSCE.