Senior U.S. official arrives in Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Vafa Ismayilova

 U.S. Department of State Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations Andrew Schofer has arrived in Azerbaijan, the U.S. embassy in Baku has reported on its official Twitter page.

"We welcome Andrew Schofer, U.S. Department of State Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations, to Baku April 24-29. The U.S. remains deeply committed to engaging bilaterally and multilaterally to promote a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the South Caucasus," the embassy tweeted.

To recap, Schofer paid a visit to Armenia last week.

Earlier, the European and Eurasian Affairs Bureau of the U.S. State Department reported that Shofer will visit the region to discuss how the U.S. can best support the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

It welcomed Azerbaijan's commitment to peace talks with Armenia.

"The United States welcomes Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan’s recent comments on peace negotiations with Azerbaijan, the recent bilateral FM call between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s commitment to peace negotiations,” the bureau tweeted.

On April 25, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan discussed a peace agreement to be signed between the two countries.

In a telephone conversation, the ministers agreed to convene the meetings of the Joint Border Commission, as well as the working group on the preparation of a peace treaty, in the near future.

The discussion took place as a follow-up to the agreements achieved at the level of the leaders of both states.

The sides agreed on the parameters of the participants in the Joint Border Commission.

The two men also touched upon the issues on the continuation of steps in the humanitarian sphere.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and European Council President Charles Michel met in a trilateral format in Brussels on April 6.

The meeting was held for a continuation of the discussions on the situation in the South Caucasus region and the development of EU relations with both countries.

The leaders took stock of developments since their last meeting in Brussels in December 2021 and their videoconference, together with French President Emmanuel Macron, in February 2022. They reviewed progress on the implementation of undertaken commitments. The leaders discussed the recently reported tensions and reiterated the necessity of adhering fully to the provisions of the 9/10 November 2020 trilateral statement.

Both Aliyev and Pashinyan have expressed a willingness to work quickly toward a peace agreement between their countries. To that end, it was decided to instruct foreign ministers to begin work on drafting a future peace treaty that would address all of the issues.

At the same time, it was also agreed to convene a Joint Border Commission by the end of April. The Joint Border Commission's mandate will be to: delimit the bilateral border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and ensure a stable security situation along and in the vicinity of the borderline.