The Global Gateway international forum is taking place today in Brussels, where Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been invited to deliver a speech at the opening ceremony, Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan announced at the press briefing following the Armenian government’s Cabinet meeting Thursday.

Kostanyan recalled that the Global Gateway is a major initiative designed to connect the EU with the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

When asked whether a meeting between Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was planned in Brussels, Kostanyan responded that, to his knowledge, Aliyev has not been invited to the event, and added that several bilateral meetings are planned within the framework of Pashinyan’s visit to Brussels.

Responding to a question on whether Armenia and Azerbaijan have discussed the terminology concerning the “Trump Route,” the Armenian deputy FM recalled that the PM’s spokesperson had commented on this matter Wednesday, and he had nothing to add.

Commenting on the timeframes for the signing of the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Kostanyan reaffirmed Yerevan’s position: the work is ongoing; Armenia is ready to sign and then ratify the document.

“Armenia has been given the opportunity to build a peaceful and stable region and has launched this process. It has been given the opportunity to unblock regional communications, which we are working on with our American partners. Discussions are ongoing, and we will make the results public,” Kostanyan pledged, and added that, in the context of the border situation, Armenia hopes that the positive trends formed after the August 8 meeting in Washington will continue.

Commenting on the concern that trusting Azerbaijan is problematic, Kostanyan said he cannot “give guarantees on behalf of Azerbaijan,” but noted that statements from the White House indicate that “we are entering a stable and peaceful period.”

Returning to the matter of terminology and Azerbaijan’s persistent effort to call the “Trump Route” the “Zangezur corridor,” the Armenian deputy FM essentially reiterated PM Pashinyan’s stance, and stated that “there is and can be no project under the name ‘Zangezur corridor’ on the sovereign territory of Armenia. And how Azerbaijan will name a project on their own territory is their business.”

To recall, Armenian PM Pashinyan has suggested that by saying “corridor,” Azerbaijan may be referring to the Horadiz–Zangilan motorway in Azerbaijan, rather than Armenia’s Syunik Province through which the “Trump Route” will pass. Azerbaijan, however, responded that this “corridor” is intended to connect Azerbaijan and its exclave, Nakhchivan, thereby dismissing Pashinyan’s aforementioned assumption.