A meeting of the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian presidents in Aztrakhan has demonstrated againthat, on the one hand Moscow, Yerevan and Baku are ready to seek a large-scale agreement on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. On the other hand, it also showed how long and difficult the road to a settlement will be. It is also obvious now that the upcoming OSCE summit to be held in Kazakhstan could play a significant role in the resolution process and give it some impetus, but is also a way to make practical decisions, which the OSCE Minsk group lacked for last few years.
The efforts made by Russia and Kazakhstan contributed greatly to the development of these trends. After the Meiendorf agreements, Russia is setting the pitch in the negotiations. In 2010 Astana became another important player in solving so-called frozen conflicts. In spite of the high reputational risks for Kazakhstan, the chairing country in the OSCE chose the conflict resolution issue in post-Soviet countries as the main theme of its presidency.
It is no coincidence that one of the first trips of the OSCE Chairman, Kanat Saudabayev, in February 2010, was to South Ossetia, where the idea of a "road map" for a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was voiced. The mechanisms and means were defined, with the help of which it was planned that this complicated process would succeed. One of the means was social diplomacy and the Kazakh experience of achieving inter-ethnic and inter-religious concord.
During 2010 Kazakh leaders paid attention to the changes in the Nagorno-Karabakh situation. And their efforts were not in vain. After the agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan on exchange of prisoners of war, a document might be signed prescribing measures to implement the Madrid agreements as a basis of the conflict's resolution.
Thus, the OSCE summit should be considered as an important basis for a better level of dialogue between Yerevan and Baku. At the moment the fact that appropriate dialogue is being searched for is important.
That is why the representatives of the OSCE Minsk group are eagerly waiting for the opening of the forum in Astana.
