The State Department said Wednesday that an upcoming high-level meeting in Brussels between Yerevan, the United States and the European Union will “purely” focus on Armenia-related issues.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on April 5. Baku has voiced concern about the meeting and has accused the US and the European Union of sowing divisions in the region.
“The focus of this meeting is on economic resilience to help Armenia diversify its trade partnerships and address humanitarian needs. I fail to see why that would be escalatory or would be of a concern to any country in the world,” State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller said at a daily briefing.
“it’s purely Armenia, not Azerbaijan,” the Spokesperson said.
He did not rule out that issues related to the Armenia-Azerbaijan process may be discussed, but emphasized that the focus of the talks will be “partnership” with Armenia.
“I suppose it’s always possible it could come up on the margins of the meeting, in that type of conversation, but that’s not the focus of the meeting. The meeting in Brussels is to focus on Armenia’s economic resilience as it works to diversify its trade partnerships and address humanitarian needs,” Miller said.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday “the upcoming meeting in Brussels will be dedicated to strengthening Armenia-EU-US cooperation and is not and could not be directed against any third party.”
