Armenian Foreign Ministry provides clarifications on Mammadyarov’s ‘mutual understanding’ message

The spokesperson of Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has commented upon the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister’s recent statement hinting “mutual solutions” allegedly agreed with Acting Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.

Speaking to Tert.am, Anna Naghdalyan referred particularly to the joint official statement released after the OSCE Ministerial Council in Milan, Italy on December 5.
 
The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister says they have arrived at a mutual understanding with the Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia in Milan. What was that mutual understanding about?

The MFA has published the arrangements between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers - reached at the meeting on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council.

In particular, the statement released shortly after the meeting says that [Ministers] Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov agreed to continue the meetings in the near future, maintaining the existing dynamics.

Another agreement was reached on the joint statement with the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the Delegations of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries.

The efforts to adopt statements in such a format had proven a failure for quite a long time; in Milan, however, it was finally possible to agree upon the text.

In his speech at the OSCE Ministerial Council on December 6 – which, by the way, has also been published by the Foreign Ministry - the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs referred to that statement, emphasizing that it is really encouraging.

At the meeting held under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, they finally managed to agree on a common text to adopt a quintilateral statement.

He added that the statement reaffirms the importance of bringing to life the arrangements reached in Dushanbe [Tajikistan] to work intensively towards relaxing tension in the conflict zone and preparing the [Armenian and Azerbaijani] peoples for peace. In public statements on complicated issues as this, adherence to a non-confrontational and non-hostile tone is positive as it is.