Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process on Thursday.
“Issues related to the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process and the Armenia-US bilateral agenda were discussed,” a brief statement from Pashinyan’s office said about the call.
Blinken hosted talks between Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov, in July in Washington on the margins of the NATO summit, marking the organization’s 75th anniversary.
Following the talks, the two foreign ministers issued a statement pledging to continue discussions for an eventual peace treaty.
Blinken, and the State Department, have been pushing Yerevan and Baku to quickly sign a peace agreement, saying in June that the U.S. anticipates that Armenia and Azerbaijan will make “tough compromises” for an eventual signing of a peace treaty between the two countries.
“There is a unique opportunity to implement a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan that will end years of conflict,” Blinken was quoted by the State Department as saying during a speech at the Brookings Institute in Washington in July.
He said such an agreement would “create tremendous opportunities for economic engagement and economic growth in the region, connecting countries both East and West, and North and South. Azerbaijan plays a critical role in this issue.”
American diplomats have been touting the potential economic benefits of a peace agreement, with Deputy Secretary of State James O’Brien saying that unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan was the only obstacle for unimpeded commerce and trade between Central Asia and the West.
