Baku has high hopes for Brussels in normalizing relations with Yerevan, said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, receiving the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia, Toivo Klaar.

“Here we have high hopes for the efforts of the European Union, especially [European Council] President Charles Michel, who is already heavily involved in the process. He is already quite familiar with the process. I think this creates a very promising environment for successful negotiations,” the Azerbaijani president said.

Aliyev noted that he considers the last trilateral meeting (Aliyev-Pashinyan-Michel) in Brussels on April 6 as a "starting point" for the development of the negotiation process. According to him, as a result of the Brussels meeting, an agreement was reached between Baku and Yerevan on the establishment of working groups on border issues and regarding a peace agreement.

At the same time, Aliyev sees a need to clarify the issue of Azerbaijan's transport connection with Nakhichevan.

“I mean both railway and highway. As for the railway, I informed President Michel that we have built more than 60 kilometers of the railway in Azerbaijan and will complete the construction next year,” the Azerbaijani leader said.

But complained that Armenia has not yet started resolving the issues of respective railways and motorways.

“Unfortunately, they have not yet started working on the feasibility study in Armenia, which indicates that the process can be delayed. (…). Unfortunately, the Armenian prime minister did not specify the geographical coordinates during the meeting in Brussels. I raised this issue in a video conference on 4 February, but there was no answer. On 6 April, I asked for the geographical coordinates of the road again, but there was still no answer. I do hope we will get it soon,” Aliyev said.

Aliyev added that the fact that Armenia accepts the "five principles put forward by Azerbaijan” to normalize relations is a "turning point."

“Now, after this official statement from both sides, we must prove our seriousness on the [negotiating] table,” the Azerbaijani president said. 

In his turn, Klaar noted that the purpose of the visit to Azerbaijan is to “ensure the implementation and continuation of the agreed issues.” He added that he will travel to Yerevan in the second half of the week.