Armenia and Azerbaijan must make use of possible meeting in Granada  to continue their normalization - EU

ArmInfo. Below is a statement by Spokesperson for President of the European Council  Charles Michel on Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization.

Under the auspices of President Michel, his Diplomatic Advisers Simon  Mordue and Magdalena Grono hosted a meeting between Secretary of  Armenia's Security Council Armen Grigoryan and Foreign Policy Advisor  to the President of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev, with the participation  of Diplomatic Advisers to FR President Macron and DE Chancellor  Scholz, Emmanuel Bonne and Jens Ploetner, as well as EU Special  Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo  Klaar.

President Michel joined the participants for a brief exchange.

The EU invited participants to exchange views on the current  situation on the ground and various efforts aimed at addressing the  urgent needs of the local population.

The European Union closely follows all these developments and has  been engaged at the highest level to help alleviate the impact of  hostilities on civilians. The EU reiterated in this context its  position on Azerbaijan's military operation last week.

Hikmet Hajiyev outlined Azerbaijan's plans to provide humanitarian  assistance and security to the local population. The EU stressed the  need for transparency and access for international humanitarian and  human rights actors and for more detail on Baku's vision for Karabakh  Armenians' future in Azerbaijan. The EU is providing assistance to  Karabakh Armenians.

The meeting also allowed for intense exchanges between participants  on the relevance of a possible meeting of the leaders in the  framework of the Third EPC Summit scheduled for 5 October 2023 in  Granada.

The participants took note of the shared interest of Armenia and  Azerbaijan to make use of the possible meeting in Granada to continue  their normalisation efforts.

In this regard, Armen Grigoryan and Hikmet Hajiyev engaged in talks  on possible concrete steps to advance the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace  process in the upcoming possible meeting, such as those with regard  to border delimitation, security, connectivity, humanitarian issues,  and the broader peace treaty.

Concrete action and decisive compromise solutions are needed on all  tracks of the normalisation process.

The EU believes that the possible meeting in Granada should be used  by both Yerevan and Baku to reiterate publicly their commitment to  each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty in line with  agreements reached previously in Prague and Brussels.