Armenian PM off to Moldova

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyan left on a working visit to Moldova, where he will stay from May 31 to June 2.

"Pashinyan will attend the second summit of the European Political Community in Chisinau. The event will include bilateral meetings between the prime minister and international partners,” Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

The statement added that a five-sided meeting of Armenian Prime Minister, French President, German Chancellor, European Council President and Azerbaijani President is also scheduled in Moldova.

At the May 25 trilateral meeting in the Kremlin, the Russian president noted that the situation between Azerbaijan and Armenia "is developing towards settlement despite an abundance of difficulties and problems". According to Putin, there is still a lot of work to do to resolve transport-related problems but such problems are purely technical.

Additionally, Azerbaijan's Ambassador to France Leyla Abdullayeva has earlier said that Azerbaijan and Armenia could sign a peace settlement in their decades-old conflict over the territory of the Karabakh region when their leaders meet at a European summit on June 1.

Up to 47 heads of state, government and EU institutions are expected to attend the summit of the European Political Community (EPC) in Moldova on June 1, which brings together EU member states and 17 other European countries.

On the sidelines, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are due to hold high-level talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, diplomatic sources said.

The two leaders met on May 26 in Russia, traditionally the main power broker between the two countries on the southwest edge of the former Soviet Union which have fought two major wars in the last three decades.

But there was no accord at the meeting beyond agreeing to new trilateral talks between officials from the three countries next week.