Washington: A number of U.S. officials involved in Caucasus dialogue

PanARMENIAN.Net - Vedant Patel, the Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, has said that a number of officials from the U.S. side deeply engaged on processes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“We remain committed to this process and remain committed to promoting a peaceful future in the South Caucasus. We believe that direct dialogue is key to resolving the issues, but I’m just not going to get ahead of the meetings themselves,” Patel told a briefing on Tuesday, May 2.

“But we obviously have had a number of officials from the U.S. side deeply engaged on this. Obviously, Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations Lou Bono has been deeply engaged in this not just through these meetings but through his continued engagement in the South Caucuses. You know that Secretary Blinken attended the plenary session yesterday morning and had the opportunity to host these ministers for a dinner Sunday night. And so it’s something that we will continue to be deeply engaged on.”

On May 1, the meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, the US State Secretary Antony Blinken and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov took place in Washington D.C. The regional security situation, issues of normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan were discussed. The humanitarian situation resulting from the illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan was touched upon.