Switzerland will support  Minsk Group efforts during its presidency of OSCE and will encourage contacts between civil societies of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Swiss Ambassador to Azerbaijan said.

“The Swiss Chairmanship supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group and encourages contacts between the civil societies of Armenia and Azerbaijan. It will try to facilitate people-to-people contacts at different levels and hopes that high-level mediation efforts and civil society initiatives will mutually reinforce each other. Of course, progress will not come overnight and the settlement of the conflict will need strong commitment from the involved parties. We hope that in May 2014 the 20th anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire agreement will be commemorated in a spirit of reconciliation. We believe that the region would benefit from the resolution of the conflict,” Pascal Aebischer said in an interview with APA agency.

He said  that Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE Didier Burkhalter is expected to visit South Caucasus before the summer break.