Azernews.Az

The European Union is concerned at the "slow progress" in the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve their long-standing conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council said in a document passed at a meeting in Brussels and released Monday.

The EU said it continues to support the OSCE Minsk Group brokering Karabakh settlement and acknowledges the efforts of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to achieve progress in trilateral talks.

The EU reiterated its support for the Madrid principles, a peace outline proposed by the OSCE mediators, and called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to step up their efforts to reach agreement on those principles.

It stressed the joint statement of the Minsk Group co-chair countries at the G8 summit in Deauville in late May 2011 and the commitments made by the presidents of both countries in the framework of the Minsk Group in Sochi during the trilateral presidential meeting mediated by the Russian leader on January 23, and called for their full implementation.

"In this regard, the EU expresses concern on increased tension along the Line of Contact [of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops] and underlines the importance of urgent steps to implement the ceasefire and to adopt appropriate confidence building measures," the statement says.

It also said the