High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said Thursday, December 17 that he has tried to arrange a trilateral meeting with the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers but to no avail.

Borrell said at the 3rd EU-Armenia Partnership Council that it was decided to organize bilateral meetings instead.

The top EU diplomat said the Russia-brokered ceasefire is holding in Karabakh, having helped to prevent further loss of life.

"If the EU can play its part in the process of peace-building and reconciliation by complementing the efforts of the Minsk Group," Borrell said, "then we are ready to do so".

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian and Azerbaijani Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev on November 9 signed a statement to end the war in Karabakh after almost 45 days. Under the deal, the Armenian side has returned all the seven regions surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, having lost a part of Karabakh itself in hostilities.