Newport hosts trilateral meeting between Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and US Secretary of State

A tripartite meeting was held today in Newport between Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and US Secretary of State John Kerry on the initiative of the American side.

Discussed were issues related to the current stage and the prospects of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict talks. The conflicting sides presented their respective positions with regard to the negotiation process.

Reiterating that there is no alternative to the peaceful settlement and ruling out any attempt to escalate the situation, State Secretary Kerry urged the parties to find mechanisms for easing the tensions and develop confidence building measures between the sides.

Stressing the need to continue the talks in the OSCE Minsk Group format, John Kerry expressed readiness to possibly back up the search of ways for conflict resolution. At the same time, he underscored that the two sides need to show strong commitment and political will on the way to peaceful settlement.