BAKU, March 5 (Xinhua)-- OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Miroslav Lajcak on Tuesday said the organization is committed to contributing to efforts to resolve a decades-long Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to the stat-run news agency AZERTAC.

During his one-day visit to Azerbaijan, Lajcak, who is also Slovakia's minister of foreign and European affairs, told Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in Baku that the continuous and increasing dialogue could make small improvement to the lives of the people most affected by the conflict. He stressed the significance of preparing the populations on both sides of the conflict for peace.

Lajcak said the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is encouraged by the dialogue between the conflict parties, reaffirming the organization's readiness to facilitate constructive progress and commitment.

He also hailed Azerbaijan as an important OSCE participating state, saying the organization is ready to explore areas for increased engagement across all three dimensions of comprehensive security.

For his part, Aliyev reaffirmed his commitment to expanding cooperation with OSCE to achieve the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at loggerheads over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988. Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a ceasefire was reached, but there have been occasional minor clashes in the past along the borders. Enditem

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