U.S. Minsk Group co-chair Phillip Reeker to visit Armenia

YEREVAN, September 5, /ARKA/. Ambassador Philip Reeker, appointed earlier as the U.S. senior advisor for Caucasus negotiations and the US co-chair in the OSCE Minsk Group, will be traveling to the South Caucasus this week in what will be his first trip in this new role, Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for State Department's Bureau of Global Public Affairs, told a press briefing

'This is a first of what we expect to be regular travel to the region. He departs this evening and will be going to Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, and in all three countries he’ll meet with senior officials to discuss key issues in the region as well as looking for pathways to assist partners and engaging directly and constructively to resolve outstanding issues and further regional cooperation,' Patel said.

It was an answer to a question why U.S. representative did not participate in the meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Brussels last week, facilitated by the president of the European Council.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have had four meetings in Brussels. The latest was on August 31, 2022. After that meeting the Armenian Foreign Ministry said they discussed a string of issues related to the release of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan after the 44-day war in the Karabakh conflict zone, the fate of missing persons, border delimitation and security, removal of the blockade, the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

An agreement was reached to continue substantive talks on the drafting of a peace treaty at the level of foreign ministers, who will meet within a month.

The next meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani border delimitation and security commissions will be held in Brussels in November. The next meeting of the leaders will take place in November too. -0-