Co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Minsk Group will arrive on Saturday in Yerevan to discuss the progress of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.
Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, Ambassador Igor Popov of the Russian Federation and Ambassador Robert Bradtke of the United States will also review the preparation for a joint meeting at the informal OSCE ministerial forum in the largest city in Kazakhstan, Almaty, on July 16-17.
The officials are scheduled to visit Azerbaijan on July 5 with the same mission.
During the G8 summit in Canada in June, the presidents of Russia, the United States and France called on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to accelerate work on the main principles of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in order to begin drafting a peace agreement.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic Armenian region, first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.
Over 30,000 people are estimated to have died on both sides between 1988 and 1994, when a ceasefire was agreed. Nagorny Karabakh has remained in Armenian control and tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.
In May, the region elected a 33-seat parliament with a voter turnout of almost 68%. Azerbaijani officials called the elections "illegal," saying they could seriously harm peace efforts.
The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
YEREVAN, July 3 (RIA Novosti)
