The USA and France have welcomed the agreement signed by the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents on the exchange of POWs and human remains.
The agreement was signed with the mediation of the Russian president in Astrakhan on Wednesday.
Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley gave the US position on the agreement at the daily press briefing yesterday.
"We welcome the 27 October joint statement, yesterday’s statement, by Presidents Medvedev, Sargsyan and Aliyev in which Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to the exchange of prisoners of war and the return of bodies with the assistance of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and the International Committee of the Red Cross," Crowley said.
"We appreciate President Medvedev’s personal efforts to reach this agreement, which aims to build confidence between the parties and to strengthen the 1994 ceasefire. This joint statement represents a positive development in the ongoing OSCE Minsk Group process to reach a peaceful resolution to the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh and we look forward to seeing its implementation as soon as possible."
France, co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group mediators alongside the USA and Russia, also welcomed the declaration.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said: "The measures set out in the resolution adopted in Astrakhan can help to reduce tension and violations of the ceasefire, which have become frequent in past months. Therefore, France expects them to be executed immediately."
He said that the Karabakh conflict could be settled "only through openness and dialogue".
"Our country, which is chairing the Minsk Group together with the United States and Russia, is doing everything possible in terms of mediation in order to help Armenia and Azerbaijan attain a peaceful, just and long-term resolution of the conflict," the French diplomat said.
A Kremlin source told journalists that Moscow was pleased with the outcome of the presidents' meeting and intended to continue its efforts to help resolve the Karabakh conflict, RIA Novosti reported.
"I think that comments about slightly more, if cautious, optimism are well-founded," the source said.
"The Russian president takes on this work well aware that it will bring him no dividends. And this work will continue," the unnamed Kremlin source said.
He acknowledged that it was "pointless and unrealistic" to expect major results from every meeting.
"It is a matter of stability in the Caucasus, of peace, of a return to normality in relations between close neighbours Armenia and Azerbaijan," the source said.
Interfax-Azerbaijan, APA, ANS Press
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