Aliyev and Pashinyan Meet in Brussels

On August 31, Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, met in Brussels with the mediation of Charles Michel, the President of the Council of the European Union, the Press Offices of the Azerbaijani President and Armenian Prime Minister reported. 

Charles Michel said that the tripartite meeting was open and efficient. According to him, the leaders discussed the latest events in the South Caucasus and relations between the European Union and both countries. The parties agreed to accelerate the work on preparing a peace agreement between the two countries. Foreign ministers will meet over the next month to work on draft texts. The meeting also discussed humanitarian issues such as demining the territories and the fate of those detained and missing. The parties reviewed the work done on border delimitation. They agreed to hold the next meeting of the border commissions in Brussels in November. The President of the Council of the European Union noted the importance of preparing the population on both sides for long-term sustainable peace. "Public messaging is very important in this context - every word spoken in public in such a sensitive situation is heard and measured on the other side," the statement said. The parties agreed to meet again in this format at the end of November. 

Hikmet Hajiyev, the Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, wrote on his Twitter page that Azerbaijan highly appreciates the role of the President of the Council of the European Union, Charles Michel. "We highly appreciate the support of the team of the President of the Council of the European Union, Charles Michel, in the bilateral peace treaty negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and interstate normalization. President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly stated the position of Azerbaijan in this regard," he noted.

At the initiative of the President of the Council of the European Union, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia previously met in December 2021 and in April and May of this year.

State Border Delimitation Committee Meeting Takes Place in Moscow

On August 30, under the chairmanship of Shahin Mustafayev, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Mher Grigoryan, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, the second meeting of the State Commission for the Delimitation of the State Border between Azerbaijan and Armenia was held in Moscow, the Press Offices of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministries reported. 

Before the meeting, Alexey Overchuk, the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, met with Mustafayev and Grigoryan and welcomed the continuation of the work of the commissions. The parties discussed organizational and procedural issues and exchanged views on the future work of the commissions and the regulation of their joint activities. Gratitude was expressed to the Russian side for the good organization of the meeting. The agreement to hold the third meeting within the agreed period was confirmed.

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the issue of opening transport communications in the region saw significant progress at a meeting. He said the trilateral working group handles the problems of border delimitation and communication opening in a rhythmic manner. According to Lavrov, Russia anticipates that the agreements reached by the group in recent days will be formally ratified soon.