Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Robert Abisoghomonyan met with UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific Mohamed Khaled Khiari in New York to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

During the meeting, Abisoghomonyan briefed Khiari on Armenia’s efforts to advance a peace agenda in the South Caucasus. He emphasized the importance of signing a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan to normalize interstate relations as soon as possible.

The sides also discussed the prospects of the UN Secretary-General’s UN80 initiative and explored potential areas of cooperation.

On March 13, the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it had accepted Azerbaijan’s proposals on two previously unresolved articles of the peace agreement, signaling readiness to start consultations on the time and venue for its signing. Azerbaijan later introduced new preconditions and stated it was premature to discuss dates.

The peace agreement draft contains 17 articles. Previously, 15 had been agreed upon. One unresolved article concerns mutual renunciation of international-level claims, and the other involves the non-deployment of third-party representatives on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.