Azerbaijani, Armenian senior officials discuss peace agenda in Washington

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani presidential top aide Hikmat Hajiyev and Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan have discussed the peace agenda in Washington, under the auspice of US national security advisor Jake Sullivan, Azernews reports.

"Today, I hosted Hikmat Hajiyev and Armen Grigoryan for direct and constructive talks. We discussed the importance of avoiding further violence and pursuing time-bound and focused negotiations. We also identified concrete steps forward in support of a stable and lasting peace," Sullivan wrote on his Twitter page on September 28.

"We thank the US for arranging the meeting and efforts to ensure sustainable regional peace. The meeting results were reported by Jake Sullivan in an agreed way. The major point here is to continue working on the peace agenda within a specific timeline. The meeting addressed peace agreement negotiations, border delimitation, the opening of transport lines, as well as issues regarding landmines and missing persons, which are part of the humanitarian agenda," Hajiyev said.

The previous meeting between Hajiyev and Grigoryan was held under the auspice of EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar on August 19.

“Good and substantive discussions in Brussels [were held] today on Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and EU engagement with Hikmet Hajiyev and Armen Grigoryan," Klaar tweeted.

Furthermore, Hajiyev discussed the Azerbaijani-US cooperation issues with representatives of US analytical centers, Azernews reports, citing the Azerbaijani embassy in the US.

“Foreign Policy Adviser to the President of Azerbaijan H. Hajiyev had a meeting with the representatives of various prominent think tanks at the Heritage Foundation. Azerbaijan-US partnership, ongoing peace talks with Armenia, as well as regional and global issues were discussed,” the embassy tweeted.

Despite the recent border provocations carried out by the Armenian armed forces against Azerbaijan on September 12-14, Baku reaffirmed its readiness for urgent negotiations between the leaders towards ensuring lasting peace in line with the trilateral statements and the results of the meeting in Brussels.