The South Caucasus is playing a more important role now: the world is now more interested in it for a number of reasons, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Stepan Grigoryan, the Head of the Analytical Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation, told a press conference on July 19. According to him, visits various high-ranking officials pay to the region are evidence of its more important role now.

The Nagorno-Karabakh problem is the focus of the great powers’ attention – Russia and the United States. The issue has been touched on at the G8 Summits over the last two years, Grigoryan said. On the other hand, the regular intensification of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process is likely to wane during the next one or two months.

As for the statement issued by the Foreign Ministers of the OSCE MG Co-Chairing countries in Kazakhstan, Grigoryan said the document underlines the necessity for the conflicting parties to assume commitments to reach a final settlement of the conflict. “The most important thing is that the mediators made it clear they would not undertake the solution by exerting pressure or speeding up the process, as it is the responsibility of Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Grigoryan said.

One of Armenia’s priority commitments is to get Nagorno-Karabakh back to the process as negotiator. “It is a hard and long process. In 1998, when Armenia agreed to speak of behalf of Nagorno-Karabakh thereby causing it to walk out of the talks, it succeeded well. Now, however, it is much more difficult to get Nagorno-Karabakh back to the process,” the expert said.