The United States will host another round of talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington “soon”, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Vedant Patel told a briefing on Wednesday, June 21.

“We look forward to hosting another round of talks in Washington soon as the parties continue to pursue a peaceful future in the South Caucasus region,” Patel said.

“We continue to believe direct dialogue is key to resolving issues and reaching a durable and dignified peace, and that also, Alex, I think answers your first question on this, is that we continue to believe that steps that are going to incite tensions and elevate tensions are certainly unproductive right now as talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan are proceeding in different venues. And so we’ll continue to engage on this and look forward to hosting another round of talks very soon.”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday that the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers will meet next week.

He said that the Armenian delegation is leaving for the United States “with the attitude that all efforts should be made to sign an agreement to establish peace and regulate relations.”