State Department: Washington looking forward to hosting new round of Baku-Yerevan talks

US Deputy State Department Spokesman Vedant Patel has said that Washington is looking forward to hosting a new round of Baku-Yerevan talks.

He made the remarks at a regular briefing while answering the journalists' questions regarding the peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Caliber.Az reports quoting the State Department website.

Patel was asked whether there will be any meeting in Washington next week besides the one between Secretary Blinken and the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“I don’t have any specific dates to speak to, Alex, or offer a look ahead into the Secretary’s schedule. But yes, we look forward to hosting another round of talks in Washington later this month as the parties continue to pursue a peaceful future for the South Caucasus region. As you’ve heard me say before, direct dialogue is key to resolving issues and reaching a durable and dignified peace. The US is pleased that talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan are proceeding in different venues, including the recent meeting of leaders as well. But I don’t have anything else to offer on that” Patel said.

To recap, an informal meeting between President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of the Council of the European Union Charles Michel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Olaf Scholz and President of the Republic of France Emmanuel Macron took place in Chisinau on June 1, on the sidelines of the Second European Political Community Summit.

Following the meeting, EU Council President Charles Michel said that the parties continued to discuss all the elements of the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation.

“Substantive discussion with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister NikolPashinyan, together with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz,” Michel tweeted, Caliber.Az reports.

The head of the EU Council noted the importance of fulfilling the obligations taken.

“After Prague and Brussels, we continued to discuss all elements of Arm-Az normalisation. Important to implement commitments,” he said.

“We also discussed the next Brussels meeting which will take place on 21 July. Reiterated the proposal to continue the discussion with Armenian, Azerbaijani, German and French leaders in the margins of the Granada EPC (European Political Community - ed.) summit in October,” Michel added.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev described the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders as “positive” and “fruitful”.

“Meeting in the margins of EPC facilitated by President Charles Michel in trilateral format and also, with the engagement of Germany and France took place in informal, positive and fruitful atmosphere. It was agreed that in July next round of meeting at 3-l format will be held in Brussels,” Hajiyev tweeted after the meeting.