Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan welcomes the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on May 27

After a four-day visit to the region, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen—Igor Popov of Russia, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States—issued an announcement Thursday in which they said that they proposed concrete steps for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process.

During their latest visit, the co-chairs, along with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, met with officials in Yerevan, Baku and Stepanakert to assess the latest development in the region.

Below is the text of the announcement.

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, visited the region from May 27 to 30.

The Co-Chairs met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan on May 27 and with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on 30 May. In both capitals, they held consultations with the respective Foreign Ministers and Defence Ministers. On May 28, the Co-Chairs met with the de facto authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh. In Baku, the Co-Chairs met with the Chairman of the Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh. While in Nagorno-Karabakh, the mediators were briefed on humanitarian issues by the local representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The main purpose of the visit was to assess the evolution of the situation on the line of contact and the international border, and to follow up on the discussions held by the Azerbaijani President and the Armenian Prime Minister in Vienna on March 29 and their respective Foreign Ministers in Moscow on April 15.

As requested, the Co-Chairs provided proposals for concrete next steps in the settlement process, including on humanitarian and security measures. The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan accepted the Co-Chairs’ proposal to meet soon under their auspices, and will announce details at the appropriate time.

The Co-Chairs expressed deep concern about recent casualties and called on the parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid escalation.