Expert blog: Activity expected in negotiations

Following the summit of Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents in Vienna, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs issued a statement, which particularly says: “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”.

The main intrigue is whether the presidents will continue conducting negotiations on the basis of the document discussed in Kazan or they will start from scratch. The meeting and the subsequent statement demonstrated that the talks will continue based on the old proposals - at least there is no new document on the agenda at the moment.

At the meeting the Presidents agreed to advance negotiations and meet again in the months ahead. This circumstance is important as it shows that in any case the summit was held in a constructive atmosphere and will ensure a succession of talks.

The Co-Chairs’ statement stresses that work will be done ‘with the aim of intensifying the peace process’, which means that the Azerbaijani side – at least in its statements – spoke in favor of peace talks, realizing that it is possible to work efficiently only during the negotiating process.

On the one hand the Presidents’ meeting in Vienna and its outcome inspire optimism, while on the other hand, taking into account the repeated occasions when Azerbaijan ignored the agreements reached before this meeting, it is hard to predict further developments. Many things will become clear from Azerbaijan’s reaction after the Vienna meeting. Now we can say that negotiations began to move forward, which is positive news.