YEREVAN, MARCH 30, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of Armenia to the USA Varujan Nersesyan assesses March 29 meeting between Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev as positive, ARMENPRESS reports he told Fox News.

''The Vienna meeting took place in an atmosphere of constructive gialogue. Both leaders reaffirmed the committment over Dushanbe agreement. The leaders of the two contries exchanged views. Our overall assessment of the meeting is positive'', he said.

Ambassador Nersesyan noted that since the first contacts between the Armenian PM and Azerbaijani president in autumn the ceasefire regime has been mainly respected, thank to which relatively the most traquil period of the last decade has been recorded. ''Despite the continious hostile announcments of the Azerbaijani side, the current relatively calm situation on the contact line has created the necessary atmosphere for organizing an official meeting under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs. Armenia has always supported the proposals of the mediators to establish a peace-oriented atmosphere, apply mechanisms aimed at risk reduction and prevention of incidents, initiate confidence-building measures, which will allow to continue the negotiations.

For the Armenian side the security of Nagorno Karabakh people and the status of Nagorno Karabakh remain the key priorities'', the Ambassador of Armenia to the USA told Fox News.

Pashinyan-Aliyev Vienna meeting was the first one held under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs. Before that the two leaders have had 3 unofficial meetings.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had a brief meeting in Dushanbe on September 28, 2018, during which they reached an agreement to reduce tension and prevent incidents in the border. An “operative connection” was established between the sides since the meeting of the two leaders.

Thereafter, they held another informal meeting in St. Petersburg in December in the sidelines of the informal meeting of the heads of CIS states.

Pashinal and Aliyev also met on January 22, 2019 in Davos in the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan