Brussels, April 7, AZERTAC

On April 6, President of the European Council Charles Michel was interviewed by journalists on the results of the trilateral meeting with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

AZERTAC presents the interview.

Welcoming the journalists, President of the European Council Charles Michel said: The stability, security, prosperity in the South Caucasus are extremely important. That is why we are engaged in order to support the positive effects, in order to support also all the confidence-building measures and we made tonight a lot of progress. It means that we have decided altogether to launch concrete process for peace talks that to prepare possible peace treaty and to address all the necessary elements for such a treaty. We have also agreed on a working group, a joint committee in order to address the delimitation which is sensitive. And I am confident that in the following weeks we will maintain very strong channel of communication in order to be able to review the progress that will be made in the following weeks.

-Mr. President, how long can it take to sign a peace treaty?

-It is difficult to predict but I felt in December when we had first meeting in Brussels in person with both leaders that an interesting step was taken. It was a wise decision to listen to each other, to understand better what other concerns, what other priorities, what are also the sensitive topics on both sides. It was a first important element. In the meantime, I had on regular basis phone calls with both leaders. We prepared a lot this meeting that took place tonight. We took time you know that I had bilateral meetings in person with both of them before the dinner. And honestly I feel that we are working very hard, we are making progress. I do not underestimate the challenges, the difficulties on both sides but I feel there is a common will to make progress, there is a common will to cooperate, there is a common will to identify what are the priorities and what are the concrete steps that we will be able to make together.

Mr. President, could we say that we are getting closer to peace agreement?

-I am confident that tonight we took an important step in the right direction. It does not mean that everything is solved, of course. But it means that we made progress, because we understand better what are the possible elements in order to converge, in order to be able to reach, I hope as soon as possible, a sustainable agreement in order to guarantee peace, security and stability in all that region.

-Has the process started?

-The process has started tonight.