According to the website of the Orbeli center, on July 15, a meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani experts took place in Moscow with the support of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Council on International Affairs.
Coordination of the participation of the group of experts on the part of Armenia was carried out by the Orbeli analytical center, and on the part of Azerbaijan it was carried out by the Analysis of International Relations center. The experts spoke on their own behalf at the discussion.
Aravot asked Yerevan Press Club President Boris Navasardyan, who was also among the participants of the discussion, what impression he got from the meeting and whether it can be considered effective.
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“The meeting was quite short, not a full day, and it can be said that the participants were able to present their general positions, no debate took place. If there is a continuation, then only then can we say to what extent the approaches overlap or if there are contradictions. Like other negotiation formats, for now there is only an agreement to continue,” said Mr. Navasardyan. “It is important that various countries, which are trying to assume the role of a mediator, are already engaged not only in negotiations at the official level, but also in meetings between independent experts and representatives of political society,” said the YPC president.
Regarding the efficiency of the meeting, he mentioned the following, “Efficiency can be talked about when the ideas, thoughts, approaches that are discussed at this level are useful and affect the official process as well. And if the discussions of experts and political society are to be disregarded by the political elites, it is unlikely that our future meetings will make sense.”
According to the website of the Orbeli center, a number of issues on the regulation of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations were discussed during the meeting, including the problems of unblocking transportation communications in the region, border demarcation, the prospect of peace treaty negotiations, as well as humanitarian issues and possible measures to strengthen trust between the parties based on the tripartite agreements signed between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia on November 9, 2020, January 11, 2021, and November 26, 2021. There was also a discussion about the role and significance of expert dialogue in the regulation of relations between the two countries.
Aravot: Let’s note that after the first meeting of experts, there are changes on the Armenian side: in particular, Boris Navasardyan and Alexander Iskandaryan have been added, Stepan Grigoryan and Taron Hovhannisyan are absent. According to our information, the reason is that the participation of at least one of them was undesirable for the Azerbaijani side.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
Photo from Orbeli center website
