Azerbaijan's President Says Baku To Spare No Efforts To Advance Peace Agenda

During a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Baku will persist in "sparing no efforts" to advance the peace agenda between his country and neighboring Armenia.

"Recalling that the Republic of Azerbaijan was the initiator of the peace treaty and its underlying five principles, President Ilham Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan would persist in sparing no efforts to advance the peace agenda, affirming a strong political will in this regard," said a statement by the Azerbaijani Presidency late Sunday.

Aliyev informed Blinken of the upcoming meeting between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Kazakh city of Almaty on a peace treaty, the statement said, adding that the president expressed Baku's support for the establishment of an "integrated regional cooperation model" in the South Caucasus without any "dividing lines."

The statement further said Aliyev underlined that the agreement reached during the meeting of the Azerbaijan-Armenia Delimitation Commission on April 19 was the outcome of bilateral discussions conducted in a "spirit of dialogue and mutual understanding."

"President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that the initiation of demarcation work along the border of the two countries, subsequent to the delimitation process, represents a positive step forward," the statement also said.

For his part, Blinken welcomed the recent agreement between Baku and Yerevan regarding border delimitation, reiterating the readiness of the US to continue supporting the normalization of relations between the two countries and the advancement of peace talks, the statement said.

It went on to say that Blinken expressed his country's intention to strengthen bilateral relations between the US and Azerbaijan, pointing in particular to cooperation in the fields of energy, climate, transport, and the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Baku in November.

"Antony Blinken positively assessed the recent steps taken in Azerbaijan in the field of human rights, expressing his desire for their continuity," it said, adding that Aliyev highlighted his country's commitment to its human rights obligations and the continuation of democratic reforms. -