US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has welcomed the recognition on the part of Armenia and Azerbaijan that the only path to a lasting and durable peace is through dialogue.
The united States is happy to continue to offer its support, Blinken said at the closing session of bilateral peace negotiations between Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
“The two sides have discussed some very tough issues over the last few days and they’ve made tangible progress on a durable peace agreement. I hope that they see and I believe they do as I do that there is an agreement within sight, within reach, and achieving that agreement would not only be historic, but would be profoundly in the interests of the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia and would have very positive effect even beyond the two countries,” the Secretary said.
“I think the pace of the negotiations and the foundation that our colleagues have built shows that we are within reach of an agreement. The last mile of the marathon is always the hardest, we know that, but the United States is here to continue to help both of our friends across the finish line. As I said I think we are very much within the reach of that,” Blinken stated.
“The leadership that we’re seeing from both Armenia and Azerbaijan and from the Foreign Ministers is inspiring. None of this is easy, but the commitment, the determination to move forward, to deal with the remaining challenging issues is real, and we feel that we have made a very tangible progress, a final agreement is within reach and we are determined to continue to help our friends to achieve it,” the Secretary said.
