Peace Process 'On Track', Blinken Says After Meeting With Aliyev, Pashinyan

Washington D.C./19.02.23/Turan:    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted the "significant progress" towards a peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan, the State Department said Saturday, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Blinken met jointly with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Munich to advance the bilateral peace negotiations between the two countries.

"We believe 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," Blinken said in his opening statement.

According to him, the U.S. 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. 

The Secretary "took note of the significant progress the two sides have made over the last several months towards a peace agreement and the offer of EU President Charles Michel to host the parties in Brussels," the State Department noted in a readout of the meeting.

"Pleased to hear that the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process is on track and negotiations between the two sides are continuing," Blinken later tweeted as a result of the meeting.

During their discussion, Blinken "underscored the need for free and open commercial and private transit through the Lachin corridor," spokesperson Ned Price noted in a readout.

Blinken "also called on the parties to open other transportation routes," reads the readout.

Alex Raufoglu