According to Mediamax at the Helsinki OSCE Ministerial Council Daniel Fried, The United States Deputy Secretary of State, is reported to have made the above comment with the addendum that "there are other principles as well and that the work being carried out by the OSCE is exactly in this context, so that all the principles are linked together, so that we avoid arguments in the future and reach a settlement, the most important point." Mr, Fried made a set of proposals including that snipers be removed from the line of conflict and added that, "We must steer clear of all rhetorical threats. I have suggested to the MInsk Group Co-Chairs and the governments of Armenian and Azerbaijan that instead of debating theoretical issues we should be focusing our efforts on reaching a settlement..."