(MENAFN- AzerNews)
By Vugar Khalilov
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated that his
country will continue to engage in aiding the South Caucasus
nations' search for peace, Azernews reports, citing the state
secretary's Twitter account.
“I spoke with Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan yesterday
about how the United States supports the positive momentum in
Armenian discussions with Azerbaijan and Turkey. The United States
will continue to engage to help the South Caucasus find peace,”
Blinken wrote.
“The United States welcomes the first joint meeting of the
Armenia-Azerbaijan bilateral Border Commissions. The U.S. supports
the EU-brokered conversations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and
encourages continued positive momentum and bilateral dialogue in
support of regional peace,” Blinken said in a different tweet.
Furthermore, the U.S. has disclosed the name of a nominee for
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Azerbaijan,
Azernews reports citing the whitehouse.gov website.
The nominee Mark W. Libby is a State Department Faculty Advisor
at the National War College in Washington, D.C., and is a career
member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of
Minister-Counselor, the report said.
He formerly worked at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in
Brussels as Deputy Chief of Mission and ad interim Chargé
d'Affaires. Other abroad positions include stints as a Political
Counselor in Warsaw, Nassau, Nicosia, and Baghdad.
Previously, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé
d'Affaires ad interim at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in
Brussels. Other overseas assignments include tours in Warsaw,
Nassau, Nicosia, and Baghdad, where he served as Political
Counselor.
On May 24, the first meeting of border delimitation commissions
led by Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev and his
Armenian Mher Grigoryan was held on the on the state border in line
with the agreement reached between the leaders of the countries in
Brussels.
The parties confirmed their willingness to cooperate on
delimitation and other matters within the commission's framework.
The conference also discussed the commission's joint operations'
organizational and procedural difficulties.
Following the meeting, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun
Bayramov said that positive steps have been taken during the
meeting to normalize the relations with Armenia.
Armenia's Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan also described
the first meeting of the national border commissions between
Armenia and Azerbaijan as“constructive”, Azernews reports, citing
the TASS agency.
'Indeed, on May 24, we had our first meeting at the border. At
this meeting, we discussed only organizational issues of further
joint work, and in this respect I think the meeting was quite
constructive. There is no agreement yet on the date of the next
meeting of the commissions on border delimitation and security, but
there is confirmation that the meeting will be held in Moscow,' he
said.
Grigoryan confirmed that a trilateral working group meeting on
unblocking transport and economic ties in the region, co-chaired by
the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan, will
be held in Moscow next week.
'The specific date of this meeting is now in the process of
agreement, and the agenda of the meeting includes issues related to
the implementation of the agreements indicated in paragraph 9 of
the trilateral statement of the leaders of Armenia, Russia, and
Azerbaijan of November 9, 2020 and the statement of January 11,
2021. This agenda has nothing to do with delimitation,' he
added.
During the governmental hour in the National Assembly, Armenian
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated that there are a few areas
where Armenia and Azerbaijan have made progress, and there are
others where the stances may or may not coincide, Azernews reports
citing Armenian media.
“For example, there is already some progress in issues of
demarcation and delimitation, security issues. You know that
yesterday [May 24] the deputy prime ministers and the commissions
headed by them met with each other on the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border, and at the first meeting, working and methodological issues
were discussed. There is an agreement to hold the next meeting in
Moscow,” Mirzoyan said.
Speaking about the unblocking of the regional communication
lines, he stressed that all roads that the unblocked roads should
be under the sovereignty and laws of the countries through which
they pass.
The foreign minister reaffirmed that the 'Zangazur corridor' is
unacceptable to Armenia in the form outlined a year and a half ago
and attempted to depict by the Azerbaijani side, and there appears
to be a widespread belief that this will not be the case.
As for the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
Mirzoyan noted that negotiations are underway.
'Here the parties are trying to understand the parameters, the
structure, the format, etc. We have our clear positions here, and
Azerbaijan has its own positions. One or another mediator from time
to time expresses its position. These positions do not always
coincide or do not coincide much more often than they do, but
negotiations are held to solve such issues,' Mirzoyan
concluded.
To recap, on May 23, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed decrees on the creation
of border delimitation and security commissions.
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