PRAGUE (RFE/RL)–After three-hour talks with his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov–Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian revealed that no specific agreement for a resolution to the Mountainous Karabagh conflict had been reached.
"I wish I could say that there is a full agreement on the principles [of the settlement]," he said. "But we are still not there. There is a general framework of issues [discussed by the parties]–but as this meeting showed–they need to be further consolidated."
The meeting took place in Prague on Tuesday–in the presence of French–Russian–and US mediators; it marked the start of the second stage of "the Prague process."
Oskanian refused to go into details of the discussions–saying that much remains to be done for hammering out a compromise agreement acceptable to both parties. "This is a fairly difficult and complex process and it will continue to be like this during further meetings," he said. "On the whole–I consider the overall mood and the atmosphere positive.
"It is still too early too disclose any details. Once we have agreemen’s on concrete issues–I think we will be able to talk about them little by little."
Asked about chances of a breakthrough in the peace process this year–Oskanian said–"We are working toward achieving that goal. But it is still too early to make definite statemen’s to that effect."