By empty (12/12/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev met for 90 minutes in Geneva on 11 December on the sidelines of the World Information Summit to discuss the Karabakh conflict, Western media reported. The two presidents subsequently told journalists that their talks amounted to a frank exchange of views. Armenian Public Television quoted Kocharian as saying that he and Aliyev \"analyzed the new situation,\" but did not discuss specific peace proposals.
Robert Kocharian and Ilham Aliyev met for 90 minutes in Geneva on 11 December on the sidelines of the World Information Summit to discuss the Karabakh conflict, Western media reported. The two presidents subsequently told journalists that their talks amounted to a frank exchange of views. Armenian Public Television quoted Kocharian as saying that he and Aliyev \"analyzed the new situation,\" but did not discuss specific peace proposals. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliev told journalists that the purpose of the meeting was to enable the two leaders \"to get to know each other.\" Guliev said that earlier talks between Kocharian and Aliyev\'s father and predecessor as president, Heidar Aliyev, had yielded some progress toward resolving the conflict, but that no written agreements were ever concluded between the two, and that \"we do not exclude starting from scratch.\" Guliev\'s Armenian counterpart Vartan Oskanian said in an interview published on 11 December in the Yerevan daily \"Haykakan zhamanak\" that \"we expect...positive signals from Azerbaijan\'s president to continue negotiations on the existing basis,\" which would make it possible to reach a solution to the conflict next year. (RFE/RL)