EC president: Meeting of Azerbaijani, Armenian leaders very important

POLITICS  01 June 2023 - 14:04

President of the European Council Charles Michel has said that the meeting to be held on June 1 between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia is very important.

He made the remarks while answering the journalists before the summit of the European political community, Report informs.

"This is an important meeting today. I had the opportunity to meet with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia a few weeks ago in Brussels," he said.

Charles Michel noted some progress and expressed hope that "today's meeting between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia will be an occasion to reaffirm the common political will to normalize relations between the two countries."

Earlier, Azerbaijan's Ambassador to France Leyla Abdullayeva 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.

"It's a historic moment and a momentum that can't be missed," she said.

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 Azeri 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.

Meanwhile, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that the signing of a peace agreement between Yerevan and Baku in Chisinau is not planned.

The ministry noted that discussions around the normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in particular, the agreement "On Peace and the Establishment of Interstate Relations" continue, Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

“The Armenian side will be ready to sign an agreement at the moment when solutions to key problems are clearly formulated,” the ministry added.

Caliber.Az