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The numbers of those reported killed or wounded as a result of ceasefire violations on the contact line in 2013 are lower than those in 2012, Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk told Azerbaijani information agency Trend.

Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan have made it clear that they intend to build on the momentum of their meeting in Vienna and intensify the peace process. According to Kasprzyk this indeed gives ground for optimism in 2014. The ambassador believes that in the last few weeks there have been optimistic assessments from Armenian and Azerbaijani officials concerning the negotiation process.

As Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office noted, with the permission and assistance of the sides, OSCE teams have visited the Line of Contact (LOC) on 17 occasions in 2013.

"Local commanders and their superiors, as well as civilian authorities, have raised a number of serious concerns during these visits. These concerns include: the risk to life posed to civilians and military personnel, both from ceasefire violations and mine-related incidents; and the debilitating psychological and economic impact on those living close to the LOC," he noted.

The numbers of those reported killed or wounded as a result of ceasefire violations in 2013 are lower than those in 2012.
However, the ceasefire remains self-regulated: the risks remain as serious as ever, and those living close to the LOC will continue to suffer hardship until such time as the ceasefire is strengthened.

He noted that Both the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the Personal Representative have mandates to work with the parties to develop confidence-building and other measures.

As Kasprzyk noted Presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan have called for additional steps to strengthen the ceasefire and carry out confidence-building measures in all fields in order to create a better atmosphere for the negotiations. One of confidence-building measures, according to him, would be developing humanitarian contacts between the two sides, expressing their readiness to pursue dialogue between intelligentsia, academic and public circles.

Besides, according to Kasprzyk his team is helping to elaborate a mechanism for investigating potential incidents.

Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office also noted that Implementation of some confidence-building measures is more complicated than that of others, of course, but these measures can and - sooner or later - will help reduce tensions on the Line of Contact and the international border, reduce the risks faced by military personnel and those living close to the front lines, and create a better atmosphere for the negotiations, allowing Presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan to make demonstrable progress towards a lasting political settlement.

On November 19 in Vienna, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, had a bilateral meeting which was followed by a working meeting with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Russia, France, USA), as well as the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office. The statement issued by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs after the meeting noted that "the Presidents agreed to give impetus to the further negotiations aimed at reaching a peaceful settlement, and instructed the foreign ministers of the two states, to proceed on the basis of what has already been done, in order to intensify the peace process; they agreed to meet again in the upcoming months." In addition, the co-chairs plan to visit the region before the end of the current year.