Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers will have a fresh round of talks in Washington, USA, next week, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced at a government session.
"We must make every effort to establish peace and conclude an agreement to normalize relations with Azerbaijan. Next week a meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers will be held in Washington, and our delegation is leaving for the U.S. with this position," Pashinyan said.
Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov had been scheduled to have another round of talks on June 12 in Washington, but the meeting was postponed at the request of Azerbaijan.
Mirzoyan and Bayramov had already four-day talks outside Washington D.C. in early May. After the talks U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Azerbaijan and Armenia made "tangible progress" towards reaching a consensus.
Pashinyan told the government session today that Azerbaijan agreed to hold a meeting of border demarcation and delimitation commissions. Pashinyan also added that Armenia is ready for the swift unblocking of transport links between the two countries provided that they are under sovereignty, jurisdiction of the countries they pass through.
"The illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor continues, contrary to the binding decision of the International Court of Justice of February 22. The Court obliged Azerbaijan to take all available measures to guarantee the unimpeded movement of passengers, vehicles and goods in both directions, Pashinyan said.
'The decision is not implemented, neither citizens, vehicles, nor cargoes move through the Lachin corridor. Moreover, the passage of Red Cross vehicles is prohibited also. These are important facts, which refute Azerbaijan's allegations that the countries, which publicly talk about the Lachin corridor problem are interfering in its internal affairs," the prime minister said.
Pashinyan pointed out that the non-implementation and enforcement of the court ruling is the main issue on the international agenda, and "we must approach this issue with that logic.'
In a related development, Russia on Wednesday urged Azerbaijan to unblock the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
“We call on Baku to take steps to completely unblock the Lachin corridor for humanitarian purposes and not to hold Karabakh’s population hostage to political disagreements with Yerevan,” said Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.
Following a June 15 shootout on Hakari Bridge Azerbaijan stopped the movement through the corridor of humanitarian convoys organized by the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Karabakh and the International Committee of the Red Cross, ARKA reports.
