According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Armenia and Azerbaijan have achieved additional advancements towards a peace agreement during three days of talks hosted by the United States.

Following the discussions between Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani FM Jeyhun Bayramov on Thursday, Antony Blinken stated that both sides had demonstrated a genuine commitment to engage in serious negotiations to reach an agreement. However, he also emphasized that there is still substantial work ahead.

“I appreciate further progress toward this shared objective of an agreement to include agreement on some additional articles as well as a deepening understanding of the positions on outstanding issues, as well as the recognition that there remains hard work to be done to try to reach a final agreement,” Blinken said at the conclusion of the closed-door talks held at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute in northern Virginia.

“We look forward to continuing this process in the weeks ahead to take advantage of the momentum we’ve helped achieve through these meetings. I very much appreciate the spirit of candor, openness, and directness that everyone has exhibited. That is the way ultimately to reach an understanding and finally to reach an agreement.” 

In a tweet later on June 29, the US official said: “Important progress was made, and we are committed to a peaceful future for the region.”

“The Ministers and their teams continued progress on the draft bilateral ‘Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations,” read a statement released by the Armenian Foreign Ministry. 

The Foreign Ministry also stated in its press release that although progress was made in agreeing on more articles of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty, there are still unresolved differences on “some key issues” between the two countries.

The ministry spokeswoman told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that those issues include the border delimitation, troop disengagement, and how to “properly address the rights and security of the Nagorno-Karabakh people under an international mechanism.”

Yerevan emphasizes the importance of a mechanism to protect the ethnic Armenian population in Karabakh, considering it essential. However, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stated last week that Baku is unwilling to accept any special security arrangements for the Karabakh Armenians.

Besides, Armenia insists on using the 1975 Soviet maps as the basis for delimiting the long border, while Baku has opposed this idea thus far. The disagreement between the two sides on this issue persists.

According to Tigran Grigoryan, a political analyst based in Yerevan, the fact that the parties could not resolve any of these contentious issues during the three-day talks indicates a lack of breakthrough. Grigoryan stated that the signing of a peace treaty is still not in the cards, as he expressed to RFE/RL's Armenian Service.

Read also: Armenian and Azeri FMs Resume Fresh Talks in US

Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Talks Continue in Washington: Separate Meetings and Deadly Clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh