Readout of Vice President Biden’s Calls with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan

Vice President Biden spoke today with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.  The Vice President welcomed the agreements reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan during the discussions led by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries in Vienna on May 16, and the leaders agreed on the importance of quickly following through on the pledge to expand the existing OSCE mission and to finalize an OSCE investigative mechanism.  The Vice President urged continued respect for the cease-fire and emphasized the importance of the planned June discussions to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement.