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“The meeting of Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Elmar Mammadyarov and Edward Nalbandyan is presumably scheduled in the third decade of January,” the Azerbaijani news agency Turan reports citing a diplomatic source.

“In the near future the Co-Chairs of OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno Karabakh conflict will visit Geneva to discuss the format of negotiations with the OSCE Chairperson- in- Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Didier Burkharter,” the article reads.

According to the source the meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia may be held no earlier than February and everything will depend on negotiation agenda.

“The preparatory process of further negotiations is undoubtedly underway and the proof of it is that immediately after taking the office the Chairperson Burkhalter extended the mandate of Andrzej Kasprzyk as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. This is already the 17th appointment of Kasprzyk who has accumulated great experience as a mediator in a conflict resolution and prevention of military excesses in the contact line,” Turan notes.

Note, that at the end of December the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Jacques Faure of France, and James Warlick of the United States of America) and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk released a statement on the visit to the region in December 15-19. The Co-Chairs noted that recent violence on the border undermines prospects for peace. They encouraged the sides to refrain from further actions that could increase tensions, and to work to maintain an atmosphere conducive to progress at the negotiating table.

Note as well that on 19th of November the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev met in a bilateral format after which they held a working meeting with the participation of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, France, and USA) as well as with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson- in- Office. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs noted that as a result of the meeting “the Presidents agreed to advance negotiations toward a peaceful settlement. They instructed their Foreign Ministers to continue to cooperate with the Co-Chairs to build on the work to date with the aim of intensifying the peace process. They agreed to meet again in the months ahead”.