13 May 2019 12:59

Foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan speak briefly in Brussels, no formal talks planned

YEREVAN/BAKU. May 13 (Interfax) - The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Elmar Mammadyarov, spoke briefly on the sidelines of the EU's Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels, according to Armenian Foreign Ministry press secretary Anna Nagdalyan.

"There was a brief meeting on the summit's sidelines. The ministers shook each other's hands. There will be no formal talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations," Nagdalyan told Interfax on Monday.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry press secretary Leyla Abdullayeva confirmed the information.

"There are no plans to hold an official meeting between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Brussels. Yet, Mammadyarov and Mnatsakanyan attended the Eastern Partnership's ministerial meeting on Monday and exchanged a few words before it," Abdullayeva told Interfax without going into details.

The EU's Eastern Partnership program involves Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, and Moldova. The member states are holding a summit in Brussels on May 13-14.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said earlier he might have a brief meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels.