Jeyhun Bayramov, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, met Wednesday with Joshua Huck, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary at Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
During the meeting, the discussions revolved around the bilateral and multilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and the U.S., the situation in the region during the post-conflict period, as well as the prospects of the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The sides hailed the Azerbaijan-US cooperation within the preparations for the upcoming 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, scheduled to take place in Azerbaijan this year.
Minister Jeyhun Bayramov noted that despite the efforts to build positive dynamics in the bilateral relations and determine prospects for cooperation, the biased statements made by certain US officials have negatively affected the bilateral relations. In this vein, referring to Deputy Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Isobel Coleman’s statements made at the Embassy of Armenia to the U.S. on September 16, FM Bayramov described such statements as disregard to Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. He mentioned that these remarks are aimed at distorting the facts about the anti-terror measures by Azerbaijan in its sovereign territories that ended the illegal presence of Armenia’s forces in its territories.
Minister Bayramov informed the US official about the situation in the region in the post-conflict period, the ongoing process of normalization and peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The minister emphasized that Azerbaijan, as the initiator of the main elements of the peaceful process with Armenia, is interested in establishing peace and stability in the region. The meeting also highlighted mine threats existing in the region, as well as possibilities of cooperation in this regard.
Bayramov underlined that despite the significant progress made in the negotiations on the peace treaty, the ongoing territorial claims against Azerbaijan enshrined in legal and political documents of this country, especially the Constitution of Armenia, remain the most serious obstacle to signing the final peace treaty. The FM noted that Armenia’s militarization policy does not serve peace and stability in the region.
They also exchanged views on other bilateral and regional matters of mutual interest.
