The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, called on Thursday 17 December for the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh to be fully respected, despite alleged violations by Armenia and Azerbaijan last week.
“Full compliance with the cease-fire remains imperative”, Borrell said.
The High Representative reiterated the EU’s full support for the OSCE Minsk Group, hoping that the co-Chairs would continue negotiations for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the conflict. “The EU stands ready to play a role in supporting and developing a lasting settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in close association with the co-Chairs of the Minsk Group. We are ready to use our peacebuilding and reconstruction tools to support this process”, he proposed. Mr Borrell added that the EU is ready to cooperate with the Minsk Group and “with anyone else” to contribute to the peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Caucasus.
The High Representative, who met the two Foreign Ministers, Armenian Ara Ayvazyan and Azerbaijani Jeyhun Bayramov, tried to have a trilateral meeting, but “unfortunately, the difficult situation between the two countries has made any kind of joint (trilateral, editor’s note) contact impossible”, he explained.
Beyond the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, the 3rd Partnership Council between the EU and Armenia on 17 December and the 17th Cooperation Council between the EU and Azerbaijan on 18 December enabled the parties to discuss relations between the EU and each of these partners, the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the EU’s support for reforms in both countries.
See the main results of the Councils with Armenia: http://bit.ly/34pAooi and Azerbaijan: http://bit.ly/2LPMCQH (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)