Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The continuation of dialogue between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia is encouraging, the European Union (EU) said.

"The EU looks forward to continuing this dialogue and believes that dialogue is the only way to move forward," head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan Malena Mard said on April 9.

Mard said the EU has a very positive attitude towards the continuation of negotiations.

The Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents meet periodically to discuss matters relating to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Last time, the presidents met in Vienna on November 19, along with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, to assess the ways of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, the Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France, and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. Negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.

Mard also said negotiations on the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and the EU is continuing both in Baku and Brussels. She highlighted the fruitful cooperation between the two sides.

She said progress has been made in negotiations on bilateral cooperation with several countries.

"We try to work more intensively on existing issues between the EU and the countries of Eastern Partnership," Mard said.