WASHINGTON 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday hailed the "further progress" made during the Azerbaijan-Armenia talks in the US but acknowledged that "hard work" remains to be done to reach a final agreement.

Speaking at the closing plenary session of the three-day peace talks at the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia, Blinken expressed his appreciation for the "important and hard work" that has been ongoing in the effort to reach a durable peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"I appreciate [...] further progress toward this shared objective of an agreement, as well as deepening understanding of the positions on other outstanding issues, as well as the recognition that there remains hard work to be done to try to reach a final agreement," Blinken said.

The second round of US-brokered peace talks commenced on Tuesday, with Blinken engaging in bilateral and trilateral meetings with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts, Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan, respectively.

During these meetings, he emphasized the importance of reaching a "durable and dignified agreement." Bayramov and Mirzoyan also met US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

Shortly after the closing session, foreign ministries of Azerbaijan and Armenia released a joint statement, saying that they "reached an agreement on additional articles and achieved mutual understanding on the draft agreement, meanwhile acknowledging that the positions on some key issues require further work."​​​​​​​

"Both Ministers expressed their appreciation to the US side for hosting negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and their commitment to continue their negotiations," the statement added.

'Tangible progress'

Bayramov and Mirzoyan participated in five-day peace talks at the George P. Shultz National Affairs Foreign Affairs Training Center last month, following which Blinken commended the "tangible progress" achieved.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Baku during a war in the fall of 2020 which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement and opened the door to normalization.

But the establishment of a checkpoint on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the South Caucasus region last month sparked tensions.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said the checkpoint was created in response to security threats from Armenia, citing the transfer of weapons and ammunition to the Karabakh region. Yerevan denied the charges.

Washington said previously that it was "deeply concerned" by Azerbaijan establishing a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor.​​​​​​​