Pashinyan, Macron and Aliyev Meet in Brussels

BRUSSELS — Armenian, French and Azerbaijani leaders Nikol Pashinyan, Emmanuel Macron and Ilham Aliyev had a meeting in Brussels, on the sidelines of the Eastern Partnership Summit, the Armenian government said in a Facebook post.

“A trilateral meeting of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, French President Emmanuel Macron and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was held in Brussels at the initiative of the French side,” the Armenian government said.

During a December 14 meeting with European Council President Charles Michel Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Aliyev reconfirmed that key commitments undertaken in the framework of the two trilateral statements of 9 November 2020 and 11 January 2021 would be honoured and that understandings reached in Sochi on 26 November 2021 should be built upon.

President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan agreed also that in the context of the planned launch of negotiations on the delimitation and demarcation of the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, further tangible steps will need to be taken to reduce tensions on the ground to ensure a conducive atmosphere for the talks.

President Michel called on both Yerevan and Baku to actively engage in good faith and to work towards de-escalation. He stressed that ensuring the appropriate distancing of forces is an essential element of incident prevention. He said the EU will make available an expert mission/consultative group to support the border delimitation and demarcation issues by providing technical assistance to both countries.