BAKU (Armenpress)–The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the main obstacle to closer cooperation between the South Caucasus countries, according to Goran Lennmarker, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s special representative to Nagorno Karabakh and the South Caucasus.
“The resolution of the Karabakh conflict may be the beginning of closer cooperation between the South Caucasian countries,” Lenmarker said Monday during a press conference in Baku. “The conflict is the only obstacle in the way of cooperation for the three states and I consider it necessary to exert efforts for the settlement of the conflict.”
Lenmarker met with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev to discuss the current pace of OSCE Minsk Group negotiations on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, according to Aliyev’s press office.
He was in Azerbaijan as part of the first leg of an official visit to the region that will include trips to Armenia and Georgia. Lenmarker is set to arrive in Yerevan on Thursday where he will meet with Armenian officials to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh mediation process.
Lenmarker, who was recently appointed as the OSCE’s special representative to Georgia, will present his conclusions on the region in a special report to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s next session, scheduled for September 18-21 in Toronto.