BULBOACA, Moldova (Reuters) – European Council President Charles Michel said on Thursday he hoped a broad European summit in Moldova would offer the opportunity for Azerbaijan and Armenia to show their willingness to find a solution for their conflict.
Russia’s Tass news agency said Michel, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev would meet in Brussels in July. It cited a statement by the Armenian government’s press service.
The two Caucasus neighbours have held several meetings in recent months as they seek to resolve a decades-long dispute over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
“I had the occasion to meet both leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Brussels a few weeks ago,” Michel said before the summit. “We made some progress and I hope today will be an occasion to confirm a common political will to normalize the relation between both countries.”
Separately, Tass cited Pashinyan as saying the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan would meet in Washington on June 12.
Reporting by Bart Meijer in Bulboaca and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Matthew Lewis