EU Council President Charles Michel described the meeting as a step towards peace. He hosted between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia. The two countries fought a bitter war back in 2020, and have yet to resolve several outstanding issues,,, including the demarcation of their border, the return of detainees from the conflict, and the opening of transport links. The EU, which recently signed a major natural gas deal with Azerbaijan, has been a key mediator in peace talks.

The meeting follows last month's clashes in the Karabakh region that left three soldiers dead. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of breaching a Russian-brokered ceasefire that ended their six-week war. Karabakh is internationally recognized as being part of Azerbaijan, but has been illegally occupied by Armenia since 1991. Baku was able to regain several cities in the 2020 war, which killed more than 6,600 people. Several rounds of peace talks, which have also been hosted by Russia, have tried to resolve long standing issues and to prevent future conflicts in this energy rich region.

Guests:

Fariz Ismailzade

Vice Rector of ADA University

Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti

Research Fellow at ISPI