International mediators brokering a solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh said they discussed additional measures for enhancing confidence through “people-to-people exchanges” on their latest visit to the conflict region earlier this week.

Ambassadors Bernard Fassier of France, Robert Bradtke of the United States, and Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, who jointly chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, issued a statement from Baku on November 30 on the last leg of their three-day tour that included a crossing of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and participation in an OSCE ceasefire monitoring.

Noting recent reports of incidents along the Line of Contact, the co-chairs said they had stressed again to the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan the importance of respecting the 1994 ceasefire agreement.

The mediating troika also said during their tour they discussed “additional measures for enhancing confidence through people-to-people exchanges and efforts to preserve places of worship, cultural sites, and cemeteries.”

Ahead of the December 6-7 OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, the Minsk Group co-chairs urged the sides to use this opportunity to “reaffirm their commitment to seeking a peaceful settlement and moving beyond the unacceptable status quo.”