International mediators advancing peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan earlier this week delivered to Yerevan the updated version of principles proposed to settle the long-running dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, according to their statement issued Friday.

Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard Fassier (France) and Robert Bradtke (USA), who jointly head the OSCE Minsk Group, said in a statement made from Astana, Kazakhstan, that on January 20 “as instructed by their presidents in L’Aquila in July 2009, the Co-Chairs delivered to [Armenian] President [Serzh] Sargsyan, just as they had to President Ilham Aliyev [of Azerbaijan] during their visit to Baku in December 2009, an updated version of the Madrid Document of November 2007, containing the Co-Chairs’ latest articulation of the Basic Principles.”

On January 21, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs met President Aliyev in Baku, Azerbaijan, following their meeting with the Armenian leader the previous day. “In their discussions with the Co-Chairs, each president expressed their commitment to continue to pursue a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and reaffirmed the seriousness of their side in the negotiations,” said the statement (www.osce.org).

“The Co-Chairs traveled to Astana, Kazakhstan, for consultations with the Government of Kazakhstan, upon its ascension to the Chairmanship of the OSCE. Following their consultations in Astana, they will continue on to Sochi, Russia, where Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will host the next meeting between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

The trilateral meeting in the southern Russian resort city is slated for January 25.