During a press briefing on November 8 US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price commented on the latest meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, hosted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington D.C.

Ned Price said that the Armenian and Azerbaijani FMs issued a joint statement following the meeting, which, he called, “a very positive sign”.

“In the meeting, the foreign ministers agreed to expedite their negotiations and to organize another meeting in the coming weeks. They expressed their appreciation to Secretary Blinken, and to the U.S. side for organizing the discussions yesterday. I should note that Secretary Blinken was involved in the discussions yesterday, but there were opportunities throughout the course of the day for the two sides to meet and to attempt to bridge their differences, in some cases without the United States as an active participant. We remain committed to promoting a peaceful future for the South Caucasus region. We believe that continued direct dialogue is key to resolving issues and to reaching a lasting peace”, Mr. Price said.

He stated that the US's role in this has been one of the facilitators. “We provided, over the course of the day yesterday, a space – Blair House, in this case – for the two countries to come together, just as we did in New York a few weeks ago in late September. But this is not an agreement that the United States is attempting to or seeking to – or even can – impose on the two sides. What we are doing is trying to create a space and an opportunity for the two sides to come together, to identify their differences – of which there are many – and to attempt to bridge them”, he said.

Ned Price said it is not for Washington to prescribe what the lasting comprehensive peace between the two countries might look like. “We are not presenting them with a document that is ready to sign. We are doing everything we can to help enable the diplomacy that they themselves will need to undertake – and this is not unlike our approach to a number of challenges around the world, where we’ve demonstrated the viability and the effectiveness of this model”, he added, calling the results of the meeting “quite positive”.