BAKU. July 17 (Interfax) - President of the European Council Charles Michel has said he called on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to undertake further steps to make progress in normalizing relations between the two countries.
"Our exchanges have once again been frank, honest and substantive," Michel said in a statement following a trilateral meeting with the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders in Brussels on Saturday.
He acknowledged that negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan are through "one of the most comprehensive and vigorous stages."
"I commended the leaders for their strong commitment to the peace process and encouraged them to take further courageous steps to ensure decisive and irreversible progress on the normalization track," he said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have made visible progress in their discussions to unblock transport and economic links in the region over the past two months, he said.
"The EU would be ready to contribute financially. Some details still require clarification, but positions on this topic are now getting closer and options are being actively explored," he said.
The participants in the meeting in Brussels discussed the situation surrounding the Lachin road, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) work, supplies of humanitarian aid to ethnic Armenian residents of Karabakh via Aghdam, and the release of soldiers detained after they inadvertently crossed to the other side, he said.
"The importance of ensuring increased cooperation in addressing the fate of missing persons and on demining was also discussed, and I once again called on the sides to exchange as much information as possible," he said.
Michel insisted that real progress depends on the next steps that the parties are supposed to make. In particular, they should stop harsh rhetoric in order to provide the proper environment for peace and normalization talks.
"I also reiterated my intention to invite the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders for another meeting in Brussels after the summer, as well as for another pentalateral meeting, with the participation also of the leaders of France and Germany, in Granada [Spain] in the margins of the next European Political Community Summit," Michel said.