- On 24 March 1992 the Additional Meeting of the Council of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in Helsinki requested the CSCE Chairman-in-Office to convene as soon as possible a conference on Nagorny-Karabakh under the auspices of the CSCE to provide an ongoing forum for negotiations towards a peaceful settlement of the crisis on the basis of the principles, commitments and provisions of the CSCE. The city of Minsk (Belarus) was selected to host this Conference. It has not to this date been possible to hold the conference that includes designated participants of it. However, under the framework of that conference, negotiations have been conducted to find a political solution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows:

Providing an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group;

Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk Conference;

Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational peacekeeping forces.

The Group includes the following participant states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Turkey and the USA. On December 6, 1994 the CSCE Budapest Summit decided to establish a co-chairmanship of the Minsk Conference. France, Russia and the US are the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Process since early 1997. In 1997-1998 the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Group elaborated 3 proposals— package approach, step-by-step approach and common state concept— on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. First 2 proposals were rejected by Armenia, the last one by Azerbaijan.