Brussels, 31 August 2022 (TDI): President of the European Council, Charles Michel hosted President Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Pashinyan of Armenia today.
Fourth meeting with leaders of 🇦🇲 and 🇦🇿 in constructive atmosphere.
Reviewed all issues and agreed to step up work on peace treaty.
The EU is ready to further step up its efforts in this regard.https://t.co/j33MZDdFGZ
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) August 31, 2022
This was the fourth discussion between the officials in this trilateral format. Like previous meetings, the discussion focused on recent developments in the South Caucasus and the relations between the EU and both countries.
Background of the Meetings
The President of the European Council hosted the first meeting with the officials from Armenia and Azerbaijan on 9 November 2020.
The meeting following the discussions of the first meeting took place on 11 January 2021. During these meetings, the officials discussed the evolving situation in the South Caucasus region and ways forward regarding EU relations with both countries.
In these meetings, President Michel assured leaders from both the states, of the EU’s commitment to work closely with them in overcoming conflict, creating cooperation and an atmosphere of trust, with a view to sustainable peace in the region.
For this purpose, they discussed having a comprehensive peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
In the third meeting, the officials from all three sides had discussions based on the previous meetings. They had a detailed discussion on humanitarian issues, including demining, and efforts to free detainees and address the fate of missing persons.
Concerning the peace agreement, discussed in the earlier meetings, the leaders agreed to advance discussions on the peace treaty in the future. A treaty based on governing inter-state relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
For border issues, the officials decided to have the first joint meeting of the Border Commissions to address questions related to the delimitation of the borders.
In this meeting, the leaders agreed on the need to proceed with unblocking the transport links. The officials also decided on moving forward with an Economic Advisory Group to advance the economic development of both countries.
Proceedings of the 4th Meeting
Like previous meetings, the discussions in this meeting focused on recent developments in the South Caucasus and the relations between the EU and both countries i.e., Armenia and Azerbaijan.
In the 4th meeting, the officials from all sides agreed to advance the peace treaty governing inter-state relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They tasked the Foreign Ministers of the respective states to meet within one month and work on draft texts.
They also had a detailed discussion on humanitarian issues, including demining, detainees, and the fate of missing persons. With regard to border issues, they reviewed the progress on the questions related to the delimitation of borders, as discussed in the previous meeting.
The officials also reviewed the progress of discussions on the modalities for unblocking the transport links, as discussed in the previous meeting.
President Michel stated in the official press release that,
“It is positive to see that quite a few steps have been taken to take forward the agreements reached during our last meeting.”
