ArmInfo.The U.S. remains committed to promoting a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region, Ned Price, Spokesperson for the U. S. Department of State, told a news briefing.
"Well, we spoke about this a bit last week, and Secretary Blinken had an opportunity to speak respectively with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan a couple weeks ago now."
As to how the United States can contribute to the signing of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Mr Price said:
"But we remain committed to promoting a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region. We urge Armenia and Azerbaijan to continue to intensify their diplomatic engagement and to make use of existing mechanisms for direct engagement to find comprehensive solutions to all outstanding issues related to or resulting from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and to normalize their relations through the conclusion of a comprehensive peace agreement."
As regards the fate of the Minsk Group, Mr Price said: "When it comes to our role, we do remain ready to assist Armenia and Azerbaijan with these efforts, including in our capacity as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. And so when we talk about existing mechanisms, of course, the OSCE's Minsk Group is part of that."
As to the capacity of Andrew Schofer who arrived in the region given the U.S. Department's tweet saying he is senior advisor for Caucasus negotiations, Mr Price said:
"I don't have the details on this individual's travel or in what capacity he was acting at the time, but we'll get back to you if we have anything more to add there."
During his visit to Yerevan, U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Andrew Schofer held meetings with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Secretary of Security Council Armen Grigoryan. The sides discussed the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan and the situation in Nagorno- Karabakh.