Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov on Monday met with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and other Organizations, as part of his visit Azerbaijan, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) told APA, the latter reports.

They met in an expanded format to discuss prospects of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, regional and international security affairs, the MFA noted on X,

"I also informed my colleague about post-conflict regional reconstruction and peace agenda, landmine threat, existing challenges to sustainable peace process, including continuing territorial claims and massive militarization of Armenia," Bayramov noted in a post on X.

To note, Azerbaijan plans to spend more than one-fifth of its state budget for 2025 on defense, but accuses Armenia of "militarization." And claiming two-thirds of Armenia's territory and calling it "Western Azerbaijan," Baku accuses Armenia of territorial claims.