As President, Kocharyan continued to negotiate a peaceful resolution with Azerbaijani Presidents Heydar Aliyev and Ilham Aliyev on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Kocharyan was generally in favor of achieving a "package deal" settlement of the conflict, whereby all issues, including the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh would be resolved in one agreement, rather than a "phased" settlement whereby Armenian forces would withdraw from the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh in exchange for security guarantees while Karabakh's status would be left for future negotiations. In October 1999, Kocharyan became the first President of Armenia to visit Azerbaijan, holding talks with Aliyev at the border of the two countries. In his memoirs, Kocharyan later claimed that Aliyev stood ready in his discussions to recognize Karabakh as a part of Armenia. Talks between Ilham Aliyev and Kocharyan were held in September 2004 in Astana, Kazakhstan, on the sidelines of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit. Reportedly, one of the suggestions put forward was the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the Azeri territories adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh, and holding referendums (plebiscites) in Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan proper regarding the future status of the region. On 10–11 February 2006, Kocharyan and Aliyev met in Rambouillet, France to discuss the fundamental principles of a settlement to the conflict, including the withdrawal of troops, formation of international peacekeeping troops, and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.