Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Philippe Lefort, European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus, is on a visit to Azerbaijan, EU mission in Baku told Trend Agency on January 27.

During the visit, Lefort will meet with Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and National Security Minister Eldar Mahmudov.

The sides will discuss the issues of expanding cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

Philippe Lefort was appointed EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia on 1 September 2011.

Lefort's mission as an EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus expires this month.

Prior to his Baku visit, he travelled to Armenia and met with Armenian officials last week.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced more than one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The UN Security Council's four resolutions that call for Armenia's withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of the peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group's co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles.

The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.