Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev Before Their Meeting

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Well, good afternoon, everyone.  I want to thank President Aliyev, Prime Minister Pashinyan for being here today.  We believe that Armenia and Azerbaijan have a genuinely historic opportunity to secure an enduring peace after more than 30 years of conflict.  The parties themselves have renewed their focus on a peace process, including through direct conversation as well as with the EU and ourselves.  The United States is committed to doing anything we can to support these efforts, whether it’s directly with our friends, whether it’s in a trilateral format such as this, or with other international partners.

But I’m very grateful for the presence of both the president and the prime minister today, and look forward to a good conversation.  Thank you.