US Secretary of State: meeting of Azerbaijani, Armenian FMs in Tbilisi a “positive step”
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili also held meetings with the Azerbaijani and Armenian ministers on Saturday. Photo: GettyImages.
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United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Sunday called the inaugural meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers, Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan, in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi as a “positive step” for regional dialogue.
In his tweet, Blinken called direct dialogue “the surest path” to resolve differences between the two sides in the region.
.@bayramov_jeyhun and @AraratMirzoyan took a positive step today, meeting in Tbilisi. Direct dialogue is the surest path to resolving Azerbaijani and Armenian differences.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 16, 2022
The meeting between Bayramov and Mirzoyan came amid the Georgian Government's Peaceful Neighbourhood Initiative for the South Caucasus, a platform for facilitating talks between the regional states.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili also held meetings with the Azerbaijani and Armenian ministers on Saturday.
Darchiashvili said the meeting between Bayramov and Mirzoyan meant Georgia was playing an “important role” in ensuring peace and security in the region, and highlighted the role of Garibashvili in the creation of the mediation platform.
The European Union supports the “bilateral decision” of Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, to hold their inaugural meeting in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, Toivo Klaar, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, said on Saturday.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Saturday welcomed his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov in Tbilisi, noting his "pride" on the Georgian capital hosting talks between the countries of the region.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on Saturday discussed the former's Peaceful Neighbourhood Initiative and its role in normalisation of relations in the South Caucasus region, as well as an upcoming meeting between Mirzoyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart in Tbilisi.
The South Caucasus Peaceful Neighbourhood Initiative, a dialogue platform for normalisation of relations in the region and cooperation in mutually beneficial areas of economy, trade and culture was discussed on Saturday in a meeting between Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
Armenia has “always attached great importance” to the development and strengthening of relations with “friendly Georgia”, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Sunday in a congratulatory message to his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Josep Borrell, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on Tuesday welcomed the meeting between the ministers of foreign affairs of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi on Saturday.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said Georgia was “ready to play its own role” in ensuring peace in the South Caucasus region “within its capabilities”.
Georgian and Armenian prime ministers Irakli Garibashvili and Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday discussed the latest military escalation between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.