The United States on Wednesday said that a new round of talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan could take place in the “coming days,” this time at the invitation of the European Council President Charles Michel.
When asked to expand on Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s assessment that there is “significant progress” made by Armenia and Azerbaijan, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Blinken was referencing engagement between the parties.
“This has been the result of bilateral engagement with the United States, trilateral engagement with the United States, the work that the EU has done in their diplomacy as well, and what we hope to see when the parties come together in Brussels in the coming days in the talks hosted by President Michel of the EU. So, we hope to see a continuation of that progress,” Price explained.
“We are not being Pollyannaish, but we are continuing to support this dialogue, this diplomacy, towards a comprehensive solution in every way we possibly can,” added Price.
Blinken met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on February 18 in Munich, Germany, where he said that “Armenia and Azerbaijan have a genuinely historic opportunity to secure an enduring peace after more than 30 years of conflict.”
“The parties themselves have renewed their focus on a peace process, including through direct conversation as well as with the EU and ourselves. The United States is committed to doing anything we can to support these efforts, whether it’s directly with our friends, whether it’s in a trilateral format such as this, or with other international partners,” Blinken said following the meeting with Pashinyan and Aliyev.
