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12 December 2016

By Anakhanum Hidayatova – Trend

French co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group (MG) Stephane Visconti paid a visit to Azerbaijan on Dec. 11-12, the French embassy in Baku told Trend Dec. 12.

This is Visconti’s first visit to the region after his participation with other two co-chairs in the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Hamburg and starting to fulfill his duties.

Today, on Dec. 12, the co-chair was received by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.

He also met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

During the visit to Baku, Visconti reiterated his country’s commitment to continue the efforts, together with the US and Russia, to facilitate an unbiased and fair settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to the embassy.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.