Wednesday, May 24 2023 12:49

ArmInfo.Derek Hogan, First Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of European and  Eurasian Affairs at the US Department of State, said on Tuesday that some progress has been made in the ongoing negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan

The US administration has submitted to Baku and Yerevan its own  proposals related to some of the most acute Armenian-Azerbaijani  issues, a high-ranking US diplomat has said.

"The [US] secretary [of state] hosted the two foreign ministers in  early May to work through some of the most contentious issues,  including for example the distancing of forces along the border,  dispute resolution mechanism in the treaty that we are trying to  facilitate, [and] the rights and security of the ethnic Armenians in  Nagorno Karabakh. These are <...> the issues that we are working  through," the US diplomat said during hearings at the US House  Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Jeyhun Bayramov, and  Ararat Mirzoyan, met in Washington on May 1 for talks mediated by US  Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Commenting on the talks, Hogan  said the sides engaged in intense diplomatic contacts.

"We put forward a number of proposals that gave the two sides perhaps  some bridging language. So they have been <.> studying them," the US  diplomat added.

He said he spoke to the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers  last week in a bid to find areas where progress can be made.

Hogan also mentioned the expected meeting between Armenian Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev,  expected to take place in Moldova's capital Chisinau on June 1 with  the participation of European Council President Charles Michel,  French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.  According to the US diplomat, the talks will "focus on what needs to  be done to actually get this across the finish line."

"We still have a long way to go. When it comes to the Lachin  Corridor, that's something that the [US] secretary [of state] has  been pushing very hard on, particularly when it comes to the opening  of it for commercial as well as private vehicles," Hogan said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Monday that Armenia  would recognize Azerbaijan's territorial integrity as well as that of  Nagorno-Karabakh on the condition that the security of the Armenian  population is guaranteed. He said he meet with Azerbaijani President  Ilkham Aliyev in Moscow for talks mediated by Russian President  Vladimir Putin.