The Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process is continuing, even though agreement was not reached at the latest summit, the US envoy in Baku has said.
"I have contacted US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Azerbaijani officials during the past few days, discussing what will follow the meeting in Kazan. The process is continuing," Matthew Bryza said at a ceremony on Tuesday to mark US Independence Day.
He said he would not call the Kazan meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents fruitless, because there had been some steps forward, as noted by the parties to the conflict and the international mediators, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, with the mediation of Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev, discussed the Basic Principles for a Karabakh settlement in Kazan on 24 June.
The meeting, the ninth in the last three years, ended without agreement on the Basic Principles, but the sides did note "progress" towards this goal in a joint statement.
On 5 July, the OSCE mediators called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to accept the Basic Principles, despite their remaining differences, and move on to negotiating a peace treaty.
The mediators have been working on the principles for several years. They include the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control and an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh with guarantees of security and self-governance.
US Ambassador Matthew Bryza said on Tuesday that people in America were not well-informed about the economic and political reforms in Azerbaijan. However, "from this standpoint, Azerbaijan inspires those who know it".
The ambassador said that he and his wife Zeyno Baran and daughter Maya were extremely happy to celebrate the 235th anniversary of US independence in Azerbaijan.
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