US State Department’s Spokesperson Ned Price during a regular briefing, referred to the contacts of the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken with the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Washington's offer to support the restoration of transport and communication links in the region.
The journalists reminded Ned Price that President Aliyev’s office issued a statement lambasting Minsk Group every other day. And then they asked if there’s clearly a mismatch here in terms of how the State Department sees and how the Azerbaijani Government sees Minsk Group.
Ned Price (US State Department Spokesperson) - We’ve been able to achieve what we think is a degree of progress, and through continued engagements and diplomatic conversations with our Armenian, with our Azerbaijani partners in this case, we think we can continue that momentum. So the Secretary obviously has had a number of calls with the Armenian and Azerbaijani leadership, but there are a number of people, senior officials in this building who have engaged with their counterparts at all levels to continue this momentum and to continue to offer our assistance in the issues as we seek a long-term, comprehensive peace.
We’ve made clear in our statements, including, I believe, in the readouts yesterday, that the United States stands ready to assist these two countries and our likeminded partners in whichever way, whichever format is most effective. We have been a co-chair of the Minsk Group since 1994, but as we’ve demonstrated, we’re also willing to engage bilaterally with the countries to help Armenia and Azerbaijan find that long-term, comprehensive peace.
