U.S. says has presented proposals to Armenia, Azerbaijan

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States has presented its proposals to Armenia and Azerbaijan on resolving some of the most contentious issues as part of the work on a peace agreement, Derek Hogan, First Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said on Tuesday, May 23.

According to him, "there is progress" in the negotiation process between the two countries.

Hogan reminded at a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives that in early May, the Secretary of State hosted the foreign ministers of the two countries to work through some of the most contentious issues, including, for example, the withdrawal of troops in the border area, the dispute resolution mechanism in the agreement they are trying to help achieve, the rights and security of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh.

"These are many of the issues that we are working on," the diplomat said.

Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan held talks in Washington on May 1 through the mediation of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

According to Hogan, there was "intense diplomatic interaction between the two parties" at this meeting.

"We are now looking into what can be done on the most contentious issues," he added.

"We put forward a number of proposals, which may have provided both sides with some language to overcome differences. They took them into consideration," said the State Department official.

He noted that last week he spoke with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in order to understand "in what areas we can move forward."