On the first day of the OSCE 11th Ministerial Council meeting in Maastricht, Armenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vartan Oskanian held several bilateral meetings.

Minister Oskanian met with the three Minsk Group co-Chairmen to discuss their upcoming visit to the region. The co-Chairmen indicated their intention to come to the region later this week to explore ways of resuming talks between President Kocharian and the president of Azerbaijan. Such meetings have not taken place during 2003 as both countries held presidential elections. The co-Chairs held a separate meeting in which the foreign ministers of both Armenia and Azerbaijan participated, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Andzej Kasprcyk.

Minister Oskanian also met with Georgia’s Acting President Nino Burdzhanadze. The two discussed developments in Georgia, the upcoming elections, as well as Armenia’s interest in seeing a stable neighbor to the north.

On the same day, the Minister also met with the OSCE Secretary General Jan Kubic, and with the Foreign Minister of Cyprus